WHY WE BANNED PASTING OF POSTERS IN ANAMBRA -ANSAA BOSS
Since the announcement of the ban on posting of posters, banners and unauthorized placement of billboards in Anambra State by the government, tongues have been wagging. In a chat with Daily Sun, Director of Operations, Anambra State Signage and Advertisement Agency (ANSAA), Mr. Jude Emecheta, explained while the ban was put in place. Excerpts:
Duties of ANSAA
ANSAA is an agency set up to control outdoor structures to be used by signage and advertisement in Anambra State. Apart from revenue generation, we also want to help beautify the state with the signages that are displayed. If you drive in from Asaba, Delta State, the first thing that will hit you on that road is the cluster of billboards, signages. Some are old, some are falling down, some are not of use anymore. The agency's duty is to regulate and control these out of home signs.
By issuing licenses and permits, we regulate and control them. Then, we know where they are putting the boards, make sure that all obscene boards are removed, like native doctors that put naked pictures of men and women that are suffering from one disease or the other that think that by displaying their naked photographs, people will appreciate them more. All those things have been banned now.
Mode of regulation of signage
We have done the enumeration of all the clusters in the state. We are discussing with the stakeholders, Outdoor advertising Agency of Nigeria (OAAN). We are going to remove some of the boards. Any non-professional registered member who is not registered with us will not practice in the state unless he goes to OAAN and register properly with them and then also register with us. Billboards have many sizes and the cost vary from size to size. The range is between N10, 000 to N1million, depending on the size of the billboard.
Existing billboards
We check the existing billboards, check who owns them and tell them to come and register with us formally or we will take away their boards completely. Only those who are registered with us will practice. We will have a purchase for them, but check whether they are clustered. If they are clustered, we will still call them back and arrange it in such a way that the state will have good ambience, not in the situation you see 20 boards clustered in one place.
For example, obituary announcement billboards are affected because they are temporary structures. They will not last long. So, the agency will give them permission for one month. In some areas, you are not allowed to put these structures out of the vicinity where the burial is going to take place. Not when someone dies in Awka, you go and put the structure in Onitsha. If you do that, you will attract a fee. If you put it in your area, I will give you one-month permission, you don't pay anything, but after one month, you pay but it must be within your vicinity.
There are registered members of OAAN who already have structures in the state. Go and buy from them, you cannot put a wooden structure and you leave it to fall down. We do not allow posters too. If you want to announce, you do it in your house. If it is obituary posters, post it in your house. If it is a church programme, post it on your church walls. Do not go around posting posters everywhere, we will not allow it.
Election posters
If you are running for any post, you are going to pay a fee. That fee will enable the agency to organize those that will go and remove those posters immediately after the elections. Two weeks after the election, all posters should be removed. We will give you one month before the elections to put your posters and two weeks after the election, we will go and remove the posters. They will pay a token fee that will help us to mobilize boys that will go to the streets and remove the posters and clean those places up.
Commencement of ban
It has started, that is why we want to start regulating it. We have written to town unions, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that posters have been banned. No payment for posters is allowed. We know that it will not be easy in the villages. Some people post posters in the villages because others are posting. It is something that people do to show off. You do not need to post posters around. The posters dirty the walls because at the end of the day when these posters are removed, you see deface walls.
Penalty for offenders
The penalty is N50, 000 or three months jail term. This extends to all billboards in including government billboards. So, in area of control and regulation, it controls everybody, including the government.
Challenges
We have challenges too. The law is talking about billboards. We are not internal revenue collectors as to know what business you are doing for you to put up a billboard. If you are a hair dresser and, for example, you make N5, 000 in a year and then you go and put up a billboard that the law says you will pay N50, 000 a year, it is a challenge to us. How do you get a woman who makes N5, 000 in a year to pay N50, 000 for the billboard? What we usually do, is to advise you to take away your board, bring it down to the size you can pay for. It is a new thing in Anambra State, a lot of people do not know about the billboard thing, but we are trying to make them know.
Obscene billboards
All obscene billboards showing people's private parts, for example, those that put billboards of people with gonorrhea, showing their private parts must go because we have children to take care of. We called all those traditional medicine people. We had a meeting with them and told them to quietly go and remove all billboards and things that they have that are obscene. That they should go and remove them because they are no longer favourable in the state. The environment must be beautified, but it will not be overnight. We are mapping out plans on areas to beautify. We are working with town planners and architects. The agency is planning in Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi to build a platform where if you have any poster to post, any information to give, you go there and post it.