LASAA indulges in executive recklessness – Odenigbo

The activities of the Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency (LASAA) is nothing but executive recklessness, Barrister Charles Odenigbo has said.

Speaking during a recent event organised by OAAN to celebrate its 10th Poster Awards ceremony with the theme: ‘strengthening partnership’ on Thursday in Lagos, Odenigbo, a leading light in media law said; “regulators like to promise their state governments of the ability to generate huge amount of revenues and the only industry you attack with bogus fees, are the Out of Home advertising industry.

“You demolish billboards that clients have paid for and you don’t compensate the people. You charge for vacant sites. And you tell me the government is doing something right, I think that is called ‘executive recklessness’. We need to fight Lasaa to the Supreme Court to get the final judgement. This is a legal issue. We are dealing with several issues around the law.

“Lasaa has become a hydra-headed monster in this country and we need to take them to court and fight up to the Supreme Court level. Lasaa has given birth to terrible children across different states in the country. Merger is key in this industry. Most of the things killing Out of Home Advertising emanates from the law. Lasaa is doing what the local government should be doing under the forth schedule, item 1 paragraph 1 of the constitution. We need to involve the attorney general of the federation on this issue,” he noted.

Responding to this issue, the pioneering Managing Director of Lasaa, Mr. Alabi Makanjuola said; “I believe with Lasaa, the Out of Home Advertising sector today has better value for their boards than it were. Let’s have in mind that regulation is key in any country and that’s what keeps the sanity in such professions. What has helped Out of Home Advertising today is that the entry level is not such that anyone can just apply and erect a board. It’s because Lasaa is in place, that’s why there’s sanity in Lagos. Instead of saying cut-down the rates, I would rather say cut-down the number of practitioners in the Out of Home Advertising industry.”