Lagos State Signage and Advertisements Agency (LASAA) has issued guidelines on the use of election campaign materials in Lagos State ahead of the 2023 general elections in accordance with its responsibility to control and regulate advert displays in the state, as provided under its enabling law.
Managing Director of LASAA, Mr. Adedamola Docemo, urged everyone involved to comply with them for sanity and to protect the environment from defilement, visual blight and other adverse effects of uncontrolled or unregulated deployment and display of political campaign materials within the state during the upcoming electioneering period.
Docemo noted that the law is no respecter of anyone and as such, “The guidelines are issued without prejudice to any political party, association or aspirant as it is the agency’s intention to ensure fairness and equality among all concerned stakeholders while judiciously performing its duties and applying the rules without sentiment or bias.”
Based on the guidelines, political campaigns on billboards and wall drapes may only be deployed on existing structures owned and operated by outdoor advertising practitioners who are registered with the agency and have obtained permits for such sites and structures.
On the other hand, “A-frame may only be placed on road verges, medians on inner streets and must not exceed a size of 2×1 metre (big size) and 0.5 x 0.5 meters (small size) and it must have a distance of not less than 100 metres 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, these can only be displayed on inner roads and streets, and must be attached to the wall of a particular building – with the consent/agreement of the building owners – limited to inner streets and also not tied to poles or public utilities, including electric and telecom poles.
On the use of posters, the guidelines allow that they may be pasted on designated surfaces on inner streets only and are not to be seen on highways, major roads and high streets. The guidelines stated that posters must not be pasted on public utility structures such as streetlamp poles, transformers, bridge pillars/barriers, road directional sign, electrical poles and other unauthorised surfaces.
The agency strongly advised that political parties and aspirants must refrain from indiscriminate deployment of campaign posters and embrace the use of other creative and innovative platforms, including stick in the ground, billboards mobile A-frames and mobile adverts.
The penalties for illegally displayed political campaigns on unauthorized billboards or wall drapes and non-conforming political campaigns on banners, A frames and posters, among others, would be to remove the campaign materials without recourse to the owners.
Also, political campaign materials deployed at prohibited locations will be removed without recourse to the owners.
LASAA also reiterated its readiness to assist and co-operate with all political parties, politicians, campaigners and their supporters in ensuring that they have a hitch-free political participation, adding that, impunity and lawlessness in the deployment of political campaign advertisement materials will not be tolerated by the agency.
The agency, through the guidelines, also urged all political parties and aspirants to take note as all the advertising materials must be removed immediately after the 2023 elections, adding that parties interested in deploying political campaigns are advised to contact LASAA or owners of the proposed structures, including billboards and wall drapes for clarification.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
