LASAA begins cleanup of political posters, banners from metropolis

WITH the conclusion of political campaigns and elections, the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) has announced plan to start enforcing rules and regulations guiding public display of posters and banners in the Lagos metropolis.

By implication, the agency will start removing all political posters and banners that had dotted the every corner of the state in the last four months.

It would be recalled that enforcement of such guiding rules was a subject of heated political debate, open confrontations and litigation between the state-owned agency (LASAA) and an opposition party in the state.

With the political tension now abated, the Managing Director of LASAA, George Noah, said it was time for thorough cleanup; removing all posters, banners, flags as well as other campaign materials across the state.

Noah said the agency had expanded plans to ensure the cleanup exercise is completed in the next two months, with provisions for scale-up as need arises.

From the agency’s findings, over one million, five hundred posters will be removed from the streets, coupled with 358 illegal billboards of various types deployed in the state with Alimosho and Eti-Osa accounting for the highest.

Also speaking on the issue, Head of Enforcement of the agency, Olamide Oyegoke, added that they had mapped out areas requiring heavy cleanup attention, as they were already mobilising men and equipment to those areas.

In the build-up to the election, LASAA had organized a town hall meeting with all political parties, where it issued guidelines for the display of election campaign materials in Lagos state.

LASAA was, however, involved in battle with various political parties over indiscriminate use of election campaign materials. It is expected that this cleanup exercise will return the status quo to the visual environment in Lagos State.