LASAA cautions against indiscriminate deployment of campaign messages
By Felicia Nwosu
As part of efforts to protect the environment from potential adverse impact as a result of visual blights, the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) has issued guidelines to discourage and caution against indiscriminate deployment of campaign messages across the state towards the 2023 general elections.
Prince Adedamola Docemo, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of LASAA, who reeled out the procedures in a statement, reiterated that it was to guide party members on acceptable standard on the use of political materials before and during the election.
The stated guidelines revealed some of the specifics of the various categories of structures as well as the rules attached to them, while urging key political players to adhere strictly to the laid down rules to avoid being sanctioned.
The guidelines focused on the following structures:
For A-Frame, “this may only be placed on road verges, medians on inner streets and must not exceed a size of 2×1 meter (big size) and 0.5×0.5 meters (small size)”, and it “must have a distance of not less than 100 meters between each sign deployed, which must be made of standard and sturdy materials to ensure that they do not drop or block the roads”.
On the use of banners, the regulatory body stated that, “this may only be displayed on inner roads and streets, subject to the following conditions: a. only if the banner is attached to the wall of a particular building (with the consent/agreement of the building owners) limited to inner streets; b. Not to be tied to poles or public utilities (electric and telecom poles)”.
For posters, “they may be pasted on designated surfaces on inner streets only and are not to be seen on highways, major roads and high streets, and poster must not be pasted on public utility structures, i.e., streetlamp poles, transformers, bridge pillars/barriers, road directional sign, electrical poles, and other unauthorized surfaces,” the statement reads.
Speaking with MARKETING EDGE in an interview, Temitope Akande, Head of Corporate Communications & Strategy Department, LASAA, said the issued guideline falls within the purview of the law and stated that non-conforming material will definitely be removed.
“We are not restricting people from displaying their posters but there must be order to it. What we have done is what the law requires us to do.
Responding to why there has been some delay of enforcement since the statement was issued, he noted that LASAA has its procedures and so, will kick off one after the other.
“We have taken note of everything. We will eventually remove it. We have commenced sensitization since April, while we issued the guidelines in May, which is why we are sensitizing again. We have done that on several platforms, sensitising the public, and we will be having stakeholders’ meeting with leaders of various political parties.”
Mr. Akande also mentioned that in collaboration with the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, OAAN, that materials meant for display can only be deployed on existing structures owned and operated by outdoor advertising practitioners registered and officially recognised by LASAA and have obtained permits for such sites and structures. He said the agency is not issuing new structures for now.
“The collaboration with the outdoor advertising association of Nigeria, OAAN, is stated in the guideline that anybody who wants to do campaign will not be given approval of new structures for billboard, they can only use existing billboard, we are advising all political parties and aspirants to patronize existing billboards that is our collaboration with them.
Recall that Mr. Emmanuel Ajufo, President of OAAN, recently stated in an interview that electioneering periods come with several terms and conditions which he said are out of the jurisdiction of the signage agencies.
His words: “Election year may be a season of boom, but again, it also comes with challenges, for instance, some signage agencies are requesting that we submit our political material for vetting before display. The signage agencies by law, are not supposed to vet advert materials, APCON is the only one instituted and authorised to vet advert material and once APCON has vetted your material, nobody has the right to stop it from being displayed.”
But the LASAA spokesman noted that his agency is not responsible for the approval of election campaign content but Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON.
“We don’t require to inspect the content of their campaign materials, that is the role of APCON, ours is to ensure that the structures that will be used for deployment of such campaign must be registered and properly located and approved by agency, our own is structural approval.”
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