The Anambra State Signage and Advertisement Agency has commenced a massive removal of illegal and dilapidated billboards in Nnewi, one of the biggest commercial cities in Anambra state.

A similar exercise has been carried out in Awka by the agency, under the watch of the Managing Director of the Agency, Chief Jude Emecheta.

After Nnewi, the dismantling will continue until other major cities, semi urban areas and other parts of the state, including Onitsha, Ihiala and Ekwuluobia, are sanitized in that regards.

In an interview shortly after the exercise, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Anambra state Signage and Advertisement Agency, Chief Jude Emecheta, said that the aim of the Agency was to turn Anambra into a smart state.

Reacting on house numbering system which the agency is about to launch, Chief Emecheta highlighted the benefits, including easy identification of addresses, increase in revenue generation and effective data collection for improved security situation of the state.

According to him, it will enthrone quicker response to emergency situations as security operatives can easily locate addresses using their GPS.

He used the occasion to present the prototype of the new house numbering system.

Speaking during the exercise , the Chief Operating Officer of the Agency, Mr Chijioke Agbanyim, called on Ndi Anambra to always go through the agency for approval of signage and advertisements of all sorts.

He regretted the fact that some are sited wrongly, thereby making the state look unkempt and in some cases, endanger people’s lives as was witnessed at Amobi Junction, Nnewi, where a billboard was about falling on a high tension electric pole.

Mr. Agbanyim warned that anyone caught working against the effort of the state government in giving Anambra the best look will not go unpunished.