The Cross River State Signage and Advertisement Agency (CRISAA) has held the maiden edition of the Outdoor Investment Forum. The forum was aimed to drive investments to improve the economic fortunes of the state.

The Director-General of CRISAA, Mr Stanely Nsemo, said the forum identified the different pportunities that are in the state.

In his words “We understand that the country is in a recession, we understand that we are competition with other states, but giving these advertisers and operators opportunities to see what values to bring that the state is indeed ready to open up and partner with the operators. Their investments are secure in Cross River State.

“The economy of the state unlike many others, is upward bound, because we have actually been dealing with our economic woes for a long time, before all of these happened. So we are looking forward to having the operators come and partner with us and help us build a more vibrant outdoor sector.

“One of the things we are looking at is local content. Most of the things that we would be done going forward, would be done from the local content perspective. So fabrication, changing of different displays would be done from a local content perspective. We are looking to drive these skills sets within our community and then grow the skills within our young people. That is what we believe would drive development in our young people.

“The governor had said we should focus on fabrication, so going forward, what we are looking at doing is looking at how CRISAA as a body can partner with private organizations to establish fabrication workshops. Workshops that would create, make and invest things in the advertising industry. It is a whole new concept. We are now leading the trajectory in advertising outdoor. So this is what we believe is a difference in what we are trying to do. The kind of skills we generate are lifelong skills – skills that would be translated to economic value over time and not just within this bad economic period but also in other economic sectors.”

Speaking at the event, the Deputy Governor of the state Prof Ivara Esu, said the forum was to underscore the critical position of outdoor advertising in national development and its importance the state.

“Since assumption of office, the present administration has displayed in words and actions, its unrivalled desire to deemphasize dependency on federal allocations through a deliberate industrial drive that will create multiplicity of benefits to all Nigerians and other nationals, residing in and doing business in the state” He said.