Kayat Kimya gets Ultimatum to pay N481m Media Debt.
A seven-day ultimatum has been given Hayat Kimya, to pay the N481 million debt it owes a Nigerian media planning and buying agency, Mainsail Media Limited.
Advertising regulatory authority, ARCON, issued the ultimatum on the Turkish firm in a statement made available to news men in Lagos.
The statement signed by the Director General of ARCON, Dr Olalekan Fadolapo, stated that, the ultimatum followed several efforts made by stakeholders in the advertising industry to resolve the debt dispute between Hayat Kimya and Mainsail Limited.
He said that Hayat Kimya had been reluctant in paying its debt inspite of the intervention by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), the precursor to ARCON, and the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN).
Hayat Kimya Nigeria Limited is a subsidiary of Hayat Holding, a Turkish enterprise with strong presence in several countries including Nigeria.
The company is also a player in the FMCG sector and a member of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN).
Mainsail Media Limited, on the other hand, is a member of the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria
(MIPAN).
According to the statement, Kimya Head Office in Turkey had engaged Mainsail as its media independent agency to coordinate media buying and placement, working with Hayat Kimya Nigeria Limited.
He said the contract was initially for 12 months and renewable every December.
Fadolapo said sometime in June 2021, Hayat Kimya alleged that a whistle-blower sent information that Mainsail was fraudulent in executing media contract in connivance with a media monitoring service provider.
According to him, Hayat Kimya Head Office instituted investigation into the matter without the knowledge or involvement of its Nigeria office.
Fadolapo said that, notwithstanding the whistle-blowing, Hayat Kimya continued to conduct business with Mainsail until sometime in September, 2021.
” Hayat Kimya disengaged Mainsail in November, 2021; the outstanding invoice as at the time was N481,349,854.45 (Four Hundred and Eighty -One Million, Three Hundred and Forty-Nine Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty Four Naira, Forty-Five Kobo only).
