2023: Kogi Demands N10m For Presidential Candidates’ Billboards, Posters

BY VICTOR BUORO – Presidential candidates seeking to erect billboards and paste their posters in Kogi State for the 2023 general elections must part with N10 million or forget about doing any campaign advertising in the State.

This follows the Kogi House of Assembly’s passage of the Signage Agency Establishment Law during its sitting in Lokoja, the state capital

In considering the bill clause by clause at plenary, the Assemblymen said the law aims at effectively regulating the outdoor display of signage and advertisements across the state.

According to them, the law ultimately seeks to curb the annoying practice of defacing public edifices by indiscriminate pasting of posters on sidewalks, walls, bridges, and government buildings in the state.

By the new law, all governorship candidates are to pay N5 million; senatorial candidates – N2 million; and House of Representatives – N1 million.

It is also stipulated that House of Assembly and Council Chairmanship candidates will have to cough out N500,000 each in order to publicly display their posters and billboards.

In order to effectively drive the process, the law provides for the establishment of a signage agency saddled with regulatory functions, which means permits must be issued to a politician, political party, or organisation before they can erect any billboard or paste a poster at any designated place in the state.

Also at plenary, the House passed a second bill regulating pool betting in the state. If assented to, the new law will make it mandatory for all operators of pool centres in the state to register with the state government before operating such a business in Kogi.

In his remarks, Speaker of the House, Mr Matthew Kolawale, explained that with the passage of the two bills, defaulters would be made to face the wrath of the law.