Unauthorised billboards: NRSA threatens legal action against non-compliant MMDAs

The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) says it will be taking legal action against Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Greater Accra Region that fail to remove unauthorised billboards posing risks to road users. 

The acting Director-General of NRSA, Abraham Amaliba, had on April 30, given MMDAs a 21-day ultimatum to remove the illegal billboards but the majority of the MMDAs failed to do so.

Mr Amaliba, speaking to journalists, said officers would be dispatched to assess compliance in Accra on Monday and take legal action against assemblies that had not removed the unauthorised billboards.

Meeting

Meanwhile, on Thursday, May 29, none of the assemblies in the region showed up for a stakeholder engagement on illegal billboards organised by the NRSA despite an invitation sent through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to the assemblies.

“The meeting was to bring together all the stakeholders, including the MMDAs and the advertising association executives.

“The issue has become a matter of national concern, and so I had wanted to meet them today and to give them a grace period within which they take off all those illegal billboards in their jurisdiction,” he said.

He indicated that they would proceed with their planned course of action, despite the absence of MMDAs from the meeting.

“For now, we are proceeding on the basis that they have attended this programme, and we are going to proceed on the basis that we have met them, and so we are going to enforce the law,” he said.

“Their failure to come means that they are not interested. So what we can do is to appear in court with them,” he stressed.

Illegal billboards

Mr Amaliba described the issue of illegal billboards in Accra as a national concern due to its negative impact on the city's aesthetics and road users’ safety.

He emphasised that the increasing number of unregulated billboards—particularly those erected on road medians and near intersections—was of serious safety concern.

According to him, many of such structures block drivers’ views and serve as dangerous distractions.

He, however, indicated that there were assemblies that had taken steps to remove billboards, which they would be monitoring.

The acting Director-General noted that the effort by the NRSA was to strengthen the NRSA’s authority and address what he said was years of neglect by some local assemblies, as well as a renewed push to enforce road safety regulations.

It was also to ensure that relevant authorities take responsibility for creating and maintaining safe road environments.