Our ambition to mount world’s biggest LED billboard is being thwarted by govt, says Lona Group CEO
The management of Lona Media, a subsidiary of Lona Group of companies has raised the alarm over its inability to mount what it described as world’s largest LED billboard in Abuja, laying blame at the door of government officials.
The Chief Executive Officer, Lona Group of companies, Idoko Kingsley Ilonah, who made this known during an interview, revealed that there has been a high level of conspiracy against the company since it declared its intention to mount the world’s largest LED billboard in Abuja.
“In 2016, Lona Media made waves with its plan to get Nigeria into the Guinness Book of Record with the world’s biggest LED billboard. But three years later, that dream has not materialized because we are being frustrated by some officials in government.”
“The billboard that Lona Media wants to mount is far bigger as that would put Nigeria in the Guinness Book of Record as a country with the world’s largest LED billboard,” he said.
Mr. Ilonah, however, called on President Muhammadu Buhari and all relevant government agencies to intervene on the issue at hand, stressing that the company had spent about N17 million on the project and was in the process of constructing the foundation for the site before it was stopped.
“The foundation was the last thing we are supposed to do. The idea was once we finished construction of the board, it would be brought to the site. To transport the board from Lagos to Abuja cost us approximately 34 million naira and 68 trucks to get it done — and offloaded with a crane and installed straight away.”
“We started our foundation three months to the completion of the board. The foundation would take a month; it would be allowed to set for two months before installation. After we had sunk in 17 million naira––completed excavation, did the blinding and ready to start the foundation––we were stopped on the basis that that was the location for the New City gate.”
“After over two months back and forth, we were relocated. The new location was a buffer between the New City gate and the Centenary City project. We went there and started work only to have soldiers storm the site and arrest our staff, accusing them of trespassing on the land of the Centenary City,” he explained.
It was highlighted that the company showed the approval issued to its management that clearly indicated that the location was on a buffer.
“We asked Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), our regulatory authority, to write to them and they even sent their staff with documents to confirm that they gave us the approval to be where we are now. Our staff was released, but the antagonists wrote a letter to the FCT minister complaining that the billboard will block the view of the surrounding rock.”
“Our board is 35 metres high while the average height of the rock is 150 metres. How would the board block the rock? The FCT authority insisted it would not allow the board because it could cause accidents. And I wonder how? We have done a lot of research across the world. Billboards do not cause accidents,” he lamented.
Explaining further, he said: “As we speak, we have a clearance from FRSC that the board cannot cause an accident. Moreover, before they gave us the second approval, the executive secretary of the FCT set up a committee comprising five powerful departments, including Engineering, Urban and Regional Planning, Public Building, Development Control and OAAN. Now, the span of Abuja International Airport Road is 10 lanes of five on either side––three lanes and two service lanes. We were instructed to allow a 30-metre setback on the kerb of the service lane.”
“This we are ready to comply with. In Lagos, there are LED billboards along the Airport Road, and you could see such boards spanning the road and on both sides in the city. There has never been an incident of an accident because of that. We were stopped on March 29, 2017. The project has been put on hold for two years –– for no just reason. The FCT authority further notified us of the suspension of the approval given us for the consultation.”
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