The management of Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency, LASAA has said it remains the regulator of outdoor advertising and signages in the state.
It also denied media reports that a private company, Loatsad Media, said to be owned by Seyi Tinubu, had taken over the regulation of billboards and signages in Lagos.
The agency said it had not transferred its statutory responsibilities to any other organisation.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of LASAA, Adedamola Docemo, made these known in a statement on Saturday titled ‘LASAA remains the regulatory agency for billboards and signages in Lagos State’ while reacting to an alleged statement by a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party that Loatsad Media had control over outdoor advertising in the metropolis.
Docemo explained that Loatsad Media Limited was one of the companies that had subjected themselves to the “rigorous process” of registration with LASAA along with over 200 other practitioners in the outdoor advertising space in the state.
He said that since the company was duly qualified to practise in the state, it would be unfair to deny it registration based on the personality of its owner.
The LASAA MD, who noted that the agency believed in a liberal market economy where all players would compete for the benefit of the market, added that it was “nothing more than wishful thinking, for any individual to insinuate that the agency has yielded its fiduciary responsibility to an advertising company that it regulates.”
Docemo further stated that the LASAA model of operation had become a model template for many state governments to adopt in their effort to achieve sanity in their states.
He said the outdoor advertising space and signages in Lagos were still under the regulation and control of LASAA, which he said was statutorily empowered by law to carry out such responsibilities.
The statement added, “The Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency was established by the Lagos State Structures for Signage and Advertisement Agency Law in 2006 and the amendment thereafter. Since its existence in 2006, it has established guidelines to regulate and control outdoor advertising and signage displays in Lagos State.
“The agency, which was established under the administration of former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a response to the yearnings of the stakeholders in the out-of- home sector and reverse the chaos that existed when billboards and signage were erected without recourse to standards and public safety in Lagos.
“It is on record that since it began operation, LASAA has added value to businesses and the advertising hoardings and it has become an out-of-home destination of interest for international investors and players.”
