AWKA — The Anambra State Government has introduced a comprehensive regulatory framework for political campaigns ahead of the 2027 general elections, placing a hefty 50 million naira permit fee on presidential aspirants who intend to conduct campaign activities or deploy outdoor promotional materials within the state.
The sweeping directive was officially unveiled by the Anambra State Signage and Advertisement Agency (ANSAA), the statutory body empowered to manage outdoor advertising, signage, and environmental aesthetics across the state. Under the newly established guidelines, all political parties, candidates, and independent support groups must secure formal authorization and obtain official permits from the agency before erecting any campaign structures, displaying promotional materials, or hosting political rallies across the state.
The fee structure released by the agency outlines a tiered payment matrix across various elective offices, scaling down from the federal presidency to local government councils. While presidential candidates face the maximum fee of 50 million naira, senatorial aspirants are expected to pay 20 million naira to secure their campaign permits.
Candidates contesting for seats in the federal House of Representatives will be charged 5 million naira, while those running for local government council chairmanships will pay 2.5 million naira. Aspirants vying for positions in the State House of Assembly must pay 1.5 million naira, and councillorship candidates at the ward level face a baseline permit fee of 100,000 naira.
Addressing journalists during an official press briefing held at the agency's headquarters in Awka, the Assistant General Manager of ANSAA, Chika Ngobili, stated that the stringent regulations were introduced to ensure proper coordination, orderliness, and systematic monitoring of all political campaigns and out-of-home advertising activities ahead of the peak electioneering period.
Ngobili explained that the paid permit is inclusive and covers a wide spectrum of visual publicity materials and public engagement methods. These include traditional posters, billboards, banners, fliers, buntings, and branded promotional apparel like T-shirts and caps. Additionally, the permit governs the operation of mobile public address systems, specialized campaign booths, branded transit vehicles, street storms, and full-scale political rallies within approved locations across the relevant electoral constituencies.
The assistant general manager emphasized that the agency is acting entirely within its legal and statutory mandate to regulate the out-of-home media landscape, protect public infrastructure from defacement, and generate legitimate revenue on behalf of the state government. He noted that during previous election cycles, the unregulated explosion of political materials resulted in significant visual pollution and structural damage to public properties. The current policy, he argued, is designed to prevent an uncontrolled defacing of public assets while establishing an organized environment for all political actors.
The guidelines were issued in line with the regulatory framework governing political campaign activities in Anambra State, Ngobili stated during the presentation. He added that the policy was carefully formulated to ensure absolute fairness, transparency, and equal access to advertising spaces for all participating political parties and candidates, preventing well-funded entities from monopolizing the available public media space.
To enforce professional standards and maintain regulatory compliance, the agency directed that all political advertisements, visual campaign materials, and messages must first undergo formal vetting and receive explicit approval from the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) before they can be legally deployed for public viewing.
Furthermore, ANSAA has placed absolute restrictions on the physical placement of political propaganda. The agency issued a stern warning to political parties and overzealous support groups, stating that posters, banners, and flyers must not be pasted on government buildings, public monuments, road traffic signs, bridges, drainage channels, flyovers, utility facility installations, public schools, or hospitals.
Ngobili clarified that political parties and individual candidates are completely barred from independently erecting billboards or temporary outdoor advertisement structures. The agency insists that only professional outdoor advertising practitioners who are duly registered with ARCON and formally licensed by ANSAA will be legally authorized to handle and construct outdoor political advertisements within the territory of the state.
The agency also cautioned political stakeholders against the illegal destruction, tearing down, or unauthorized removal of opponents’ campaign materials, urging actors to approach the electioneering process peacefully and avoid treating the contest as an aggressive conflict. To ensure strict compliance with these operational directives, the government announced that dedicated enforcement teams would be actively deployed across all local government areas to monitor the field. Anyone found violating the regulations or defacing public property will face immediate legal sanctions and financial penalties in accordance with existing state laws.
