Over 1000 illegal signage structures were on Wednesday removed by the Kwara State Signage and Advertisement Agency (KWASSAA) as part of effort to make the environment clean and safe.

The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, had earlier directed the agency to embark on enforcement exercise on illegal and abandoned signage structures in the state.

Leading the team of the agency on enforcement exercise, the Director-General of the agency, Alhaji Hammed Olufadi, in an interview with The Herald said the rationale behind the exercise was to clean visual clutter and remove road hazards for both pedestrians and motorists.

Olufadi stated further that the idea of the exercise was to ensure that people follow due process by coming to the agency to regularize all their structures.

According to him, the exercise is targeted at ensuring that all road medians and road setbacks in the state are free of all dangerous structures.

“The exercise is to let people know that engaging in illegality is not tolerated in kwara. This is meant to make the environment clean and save for businesses and Kwarans.”

He added ” it is also to ensure that the appropriate revenue is paid to the government as at when due”.

Olufadi therefore called on the owners of the removed signage boards to come to the agency with evidences of payment and necessary approval for regularization, adding that those without evidence of payment and approval should start the process immediately.

The DG stated that those who want to collect their structures should do so within 30 days or be made to pay the necessary fine.

He added that the agency will dispose the structures of those who refuse to show up within 30 days and use the money to offset the cost of removal.

The DG pledged that the enforcement is a continuous exercise saying that after Ilorin city, the agency will move to all major towns and villages of the state.

Olufadi therefore advised Kwarans to continue to be law abiding citizens, warning that the days of erecting sign boards in whatever shape illegally is gone.