An Enugu State High Court presided over by Justice K.I. Okpe has directed members of Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) to register their signage structures in the state.
Okpe gave the directed while delivering a judgment in a suit filed by OAAN seeking interpretations of certain provisions of the Enugu State Structures for Signage and Advertising Agency Law.
The judge directed members of OAAN operating in the state to register all their structures for signage erected anywhere in the state.
He also held that out-of-home advertising practitioners in the state should register their practice as well as obtain the registration permits and codes for each signage.
He described as unambiguous the provisions of the law regulating the practice of outdoor advertisements in the state.
“Section 22 of the Enugu State Structures for Signage and Advertisement Law provides that every outdoor structure owned by a corporate entity shall be registered by the owner.
“What this section commanded to be registered is ‘every outdoor’ structure,” he said.
The judge said that the law recognised two registration requirements namely, one for the owner of the signage and the other for the signage itself.
According to the judge, corporate owners of signage structures shall, by law, be made to bear the cost of removal.
The OAAN had gone to court seeking the interpretation of some sections of the law regulating outdoor advertising in the state.
Recall that the Enugu State Structures for Signage and Advertisement Agency Law came into effect in December 2016.
The law provides for the regulation of outdoor structures for the display of signage, hoarding and advertisement in Enugu State and for connected purposes.
The law which empowers the agency to control outdoor structures to be used for signage and advertisement has pitted the agency against practitioners and individuals, including politicians in the state.
