LASAA extends public advertising contracts disrupted during election campaigns

LAGOS State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) has extended by three months, outdoor advertising contracts that were disrupted by political campaigns in the build up to the recently concluded general elections.

The agency on Tuesday said the move was to make up for losses and inconveniences suffered by outdoor advertising practitioners and their clients as a result of the disruptions.

Managing Director of LASAA, George Noah, said they felt the pains of outdoor advertisers and the losses they had incurred while the general election lasted.

“We also feel the pain and bear the brunt of excesses perpetrated on the outdoor advertising industry, by political agents who showed a blatant disregard for existing outdoor advertising contractual agreements.

“These brazen acts cost us and our esteemed stakeholders severe losses. Consequently, we are obliged to come up with incentives that could cushion the impact and help restore confidence and jump-start investments in the sector, following the lull recorded in the build up to the general elections,” Noah said.

He recalled that some outdoor advertising practitioners in Lagos – especially those with Streetlamp poles contracts — suffered huge losses when the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) – deployed campaign materials on streetlamp poles already paid for by some practitioners.

This resulted in losses running into hundreds of millions of naira and the termination of contracts – by some leading telecom firms – such as Globacom and Huawei.