Posters Deface Lagos –Stakeholders

Some Lagos residents have called for regulation of posters and handbills pasting on highways and streets, saying it was affecting the state government’s beautification projects.

They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews in Lagos that indiscriminate pasting of handbills and posters had constituted nuisance and was defacing the state.

Mr. Anthony Eze, a Lagos-based lawyer, said that the sight of the handbills and posters on public buildings “gives a very ugly picture and connotes poor organisation of the state.”

He noted that various religious bodies’ posters and handbills, home video advertisements and other advertisements by individuals were placed at strategic points in the city.

Eze urged the appropriate authorities to check the situation to give the state a dignified outlook.

Another lawyer, Mr. Yomi Idris, said that the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) should wake up to its responsibilities and rid the streets of such ugly posters.

The agency, established by the Lagos State Structure for Signage and Advertisement Law, 2006, is responsible for the management, regulation and control of the signage and outdoor advertising environment in the state.

Idris observed that many people had the habit of pasting posters and erecting signboards in the state without the agency’s approval.

“If this situation is not checked, we may be faced with a poster-crowded state in which the face of its walls is mutilated with handbills.”

Mrs. Tosin Ajayi, another Lagos resident, said that LASAA was known for its eagerness at riding the streets of Lagos of such posters, “but the zeal is now on the decrease.”

She said that the agency should make use of its modern equipment to remove such posters and billboards.

Ajayi urged officials of the agency to sanitise the state by completely eliminating the indiscriminate pasting of handbills.

Mr. Young Bassey, also a Lagos-based lawyer, said that it was illegal to deface the streets with posters and signs without permission from the agency.

He said that many posters had defaced major highways such as Lagos-Badagryexpressway, LASU-Isheri road, and Ojo-Igbede road.

Bassey urged the LASAA to act swiftly and rid the streets of the posters and handbills defacing the streets and keep the state clean.