Ekiti State Government has said that there is no going back on its resolve to put a stop to indiscriminate mounting of billboards and littering the environment with posters and leaflets.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti on the recent clampdown on arbitrary placement of billboards and posters, the State Commissioner for Information, Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Lanre Ogunsuyi explained that the exercise was not a witch-hunt, stressing that the development was to maintain sanity in the sector through proper management and control.
Ogunsuyi emphasised that the law regulating outdoor advertisement would apply to all regardless of their political or religious affiliations.
According to him, the defacement of both public and private infrastructures has become a source of concern with posters and billboards of products, upcoming events and political campaigns becoming not only an eyesore but also a health hazard.
Noting that no reasonable government would continue to tolerate the flagrant disregard for human health and hygiene, the Commissioner expressed surprise that most of the culprits were opinion leaders and educated people who should know the inherent danger in the unwholesome act.
Ogunsuyi stressed that the State Signage and Advertising Agency has been mandated to prevent individuals, organizations, religious bodies and other stakeholders from defacing the State in a bid to ensure cleanliness of the environment adding that placement of any billboard must be registered with the agency.
Soliciting the support of all stakeholders for government’s effort at developing the State and protecting the overall interest of the people, Ogunsuyi warned that all recalcitrant individuals and groups of people would be dealt with according to the law.
Packaged by Omotoyosi Jesuleye
