By Idongesit Ashameri / Special Correspondent, Uyo
Outdoor practitioners under the aegis of the Coalition of Outdoor Practitioners have insisted that the Uyo Capital City Development Authority (UCCDA) has no authority to destroy existing outdoor billboards in the state capital.
In a letter to Governor Godswill Akpabio titled “Unlawful Removal of our Billboards and Other Outdoor Structures by UCCDA,” signed by Mr. Aniekan Ekpo, the coalition said its members are greatly distressed by the activities of the authority in the destruction of billboards and other outdoor advertisement structures.
It said the action portrays the state administration as practicing double standard.
The coalition recalled that by a newspaper advertisement of Monday, January 31, 2005, the state government clearly outlined procedures to be adopted to create outdoor advertisement structures in the state which its members all complied with.
It expressed shock that the agency is now dismantling billboards lawfully erected by members of the coalition under the guidelines given them by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and its consultant, De Mbarukas Limited.
“The highhandedness of UCCDA in destroying billboards that the state government had approved is not only unconstitutional but also reflects infighting between the agency and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources which should not be vented on our structure,” the letter stated.
The Coalition further said the “Fourth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution rests the power to control and regulate outdoor advertisement hoarding (billboards) in the local government councils,” claiming that the power of Attorney was signed by the 31 local government councils of the state ratifying the appointment of a state consultant (in this case De Mbarukas) on Outdoor Advertisement and Allied Matters considering the supremacy of the constitution, UCCDA, a creation of the state law, cannot usurp or assign to itself a function whereby assigned by the constitution.
The coalition, therefore, called on the state governor to curb the excesses of UCCDA by calling them to order and making for a restitution of the damages already done and equally took a swipe at UCCDA for destroying road pavement and other structures aside billboard.
“The wantonness in the destruction is mind boggling. If the destruction of billboards was UCCDA’s aim, why destroy the trees planted by the Ministry to provide shade in the wake? Why destroy the new pavement that were constructed at enormous cost?” the letter further stated.
The coalition, which has taken the matter to court, further said the UCCDA is acting more like a destruction authority than a development authority, and “wondered why UCCDA is undertaking this destruction to sensitize/clean up the state which is the function of the Ministry of Environment.”
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