States’ excessive campaign billboard fees

With the commencement of the presidential and National Assembly political campaigns for the 2027 elections on Wednesday, August 19, there are fears that states’ excessive billboard campaign fees will hamper the exercise. There are also reports that some members of the opposition have kicked against the arbitrary increase in campaign permits for posters and billboards across the country.

In fact, opposition groups, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), and the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) have urged INEC to wade into the matter.

According to reports, the Abia State Signage and Advertising Agency (ABSSAA) has pegged the fees for outdoor campaign billboard for presidential candidates and governorship candidates at N200 million and N150 million, respectively. While senatorial candidates will pay N100 million, House of Representatives N50 million and state House of Assembly will pay N20 million.

In Kogi State, the signage agency also fixed the fee for presidential candidates at N150 million, N50 million for senatorial contenders, N30 million for House of Representatives, and N5 million for State Assembly candidates. Similarly, the Anambra State Signage and Advertisement Agency (ANSAA) announced a mandatory N50 million permit fee for presidential candidates, N20 million for senatorial candidates, N5 million for House of Representatives and N1.5 million for state House of Assembly.

Enugu State’s signage agency has announced a mandatory N150 million advertising permit fee for political parties and candidates participating in the 2027 elections. In Imo, governorship candidates are expected to pay N55.25 million. Presidential candidates will pay N22.25 million, N5.75 million for senatorial seats and N3.55 million for House of Representatives.

Also, the Adamawa State Urban Development Board has advised presidential or governorship candidates to budget between N100 million and N150 million a month per billboard. In almost all the states, the story is the same: high charges for campaign billboards.

We decry the excessive fees charged by some states for campaign billboards, mainly targeted at opposition candidates, and urge the concerned state governments to urgently review the outrageous fees in the overall interest of the country and our democracy. The fees so far charged by the states are higher than what advertisers charge for billboards. For instance, the cost of a standard commercial billboard advertising across Nigerian cities ranges from N200,000 to N15 million per month, depending on size, technology, location and purpose.

Charging hundreds of millions of naira for campaign billboards under the guise of environmental regulation, preventing visual pollution or boosting internally generated revenue (IGR) is vindictive and self-serving. It does not advance the course of our democracy. It is a disservice to the people of the state and Nigerians. There are other ways the states can boost their IGR other than excessive campaign permit charges.

This attempt to muzzle the opposition via arbitrary campaign billboard charges will not be allowed to stand. We call on INEC, EFCC and other stakeholders to call the affected states to order. Apart from imposing needless financial burden on opposition candidates, the high signage fees will unduly increase their campaign budgets. If the signage permit fees are not reviewed forthwith, the 2027 election campaigns will be highly monetized and make candidates overshoot their allowed campaign budget threshold.

Moreover, Section 95(2) of the Electoral Act explicitly states that, “State apparatus, including the media, shall not be employed to the advantage or disadvantage of any political party or candidate at any election.” By using state-controlled agencies to impose exorbitant campaign permit fees, which incumbents routinely bypass through state-backed waivers or public funding, governors are explicitly using the state apparatus to give their candidates undue advantage.

We say this because incumbent candidates have the advantage of state treasuries during campaigns over opposition candidates that have no access to such easy funds. Charging high campaign permit fees whittles the power of the opposition to challenge those already in power and presents an unfair democratic contest. The 2027 elections will not be free, fair and credible, if some candidates have unfair visibility advantage over others.

Statutorily, presidential candidates can now spend up to N10 billion for their campaigns, and senatorial candidates, N500million. We hope that INEC will have the technology to monitor campaign spending of candidates.

When states use prohibitive permit fees to scare away alternative voices, the electoral process is apparently compromised long before the election. Therefore, we call on INEC to peg the campaign billboard permit fees to ensure a level playing field for all the candidates as we approach the 2027 polls.