Outdoor Advertising in Oyo State And The Growing Insanity | By Waheed Ganiyu

The billboard is the main outdoor advertising medium in Nigeria. It is large structures erected on highways, roads for the display of huge advertising materials. Billboards expose passers-by to the brief and bold advertising messages.

Prior to 2007, billboards was a source of revenue to the local governments. However, on assumption of office, the former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola established the Lagos Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA).

The pioneer LASAA Director-General, Barrister Makanjuola was reporting directly to the governor. He performed excellently by flushing the charlatans and quacks out of business and paved way for the key players and competent practitioners. LASAA got rid of illegal structures in areas like: Ikeja, Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Ojota, Costain and other parts of Lagos Mainland. Within a year the agency was able to generate over N3b.

The Lagos model prompted other states, especially in the south-west to establish their own advertisement agencies. Unfortunately most of them have not been able to meet up with the ‘Eko’ standard.

In the pacesetter state, the Oyo State Signage and Advertisement Agency, unarguably, has not been able to live to its mandate of ensuring that the signage beautify our environment. Many billboards constitute nuisance and threats to the lives of the people.

Ideally, a minimum of 100m is required in between billboards on the same road. But here in Oyo State, especially in Ibadan, the state capital, billboards are clustered in areas like: Adamasingba, Dugbe, Agodi-Gate, UI-Ojoo road, Iwo road and others. Apart from clustering, many of these structures are erected directly high-tension wires. Inasmuch the state needs to boost its revenue, people’s lives, healthy and safety environment are also significant.

The question is who are those people behind this growing insanity and illegality? In a chat with the Head, Ibadan Office of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Mr. Olajide Olishile, he said: ‘allocation of sites for billboards is the sole responsibility of OYSAA’. When confronted with the query on the billboard erected at Mokola Roundabout under the high-tension wire, an Enforcement Officer at OYSAA simply denied that no structure is under the wire.

Meanwhile, further investigations revealed that many of these billboards belong to OYSAA members of staff who don’t even have the skills and statutory requirements to practice.

Now that the rainy season is here, many of these billboards may not be able to withstand the heavy winds that characterise the period. In order to avoid any eventuality, it’s high time the OYSAA, Director-General, Hon. Temi Addibi, stop relying only on the reports from the field, swung into action by leading a powerful task force to uproot these illegal billboards.