“As Nigeria approaches 2027, the contest for political visibility raises a larger question about public priorities and measurable results.”
By Omolaraeni Olaosebikan
Nigeria’s roads are beginning to tell a familiar story. Along major routes, political portraits and slogans are competing for attention as the country looks towards the 2027 elections. Faces are becoming familiar, promises are finding fresh expression, and the machinery of political visibility is gathering momentum. Yet beneath those towering displays, ordinary life continues: businesses still need customers, households still weigh the cost of living, and citizens still expect the public services for which governments were elected.
The question is not whether politicians should campaign. They should. It is whether the growing urgency of the next election is beginning to drown out the unfinished responsibilities of the present one.
There is something revealing about a billboard. It is designed to interrupt our attention, compress a message and make a face or phrase difficult to forget. In commerce, that is its legitimate purpose. In politics, it can introduce candidates and communicate ideas. But a billboard cannot repair a road, improve a classroom or explain why a policy has fallen short. It can project confidence without demonstrating competence. That distinction matters most when the same public figures seeking another mandate still carry the obligation to account for the one they already hold.
The commercial dimension deserves attention too. Outdoor advertising is a business ecosystem, supporting agencies, printers, installers, media owners and the brands that rely on visibility to reach customers. Election seasons can bring substantial spending and employment into that ecosystem. They can also intensify competition for premium sites, raise questions about pricing and availability, and alter the advertising plans of companies that need those locations for everyday trade. Claims that political campaigns have secured billboard space for years ahead should be tested against actual booking records, not repeated as national fact. Still, the underlying issue is worth asking: when public space becomes saturated with political messages, what happens to the visibility of enterprise, products and services that sustain economic activity between elections?
This is not an argument that business advertising is inherently more valuable than political advertising. Both have legitimate places in a democratic marketplace. The concern is the balance of attention. A country cannot live permanently in campaign mode without risking a narrower public conversation. Political communication may be loud, while questions about school quality, reliable electricity, employment, healthcare, security and the ease of doing business struggle to command comparable space. The danger is not simply visual clutter. It is that repetition begins to masquerade as evidence, and prominence begins to substitute for performance.
A healthy election season should do the opposite. It should create a sharper public examination of what has been achieved, what remains incomplete and how competing proposals might work. Incumbents should be able to explain outcomes against their stated commitments; challengers should be able to present credible alternatives, with costs, trade-offs and timelines. The public deserves more than attractive portraits and expansive slogans. It deserves accessible information that can be questioned, checked and compared.
Communication becomes useful to democracy when it helps citizens understand choices, not merely remember names.
For those who practise strategic communication, this is an important professional test. Visibility has value, but visibility is only one part of reputation. A compelling message may generate recognition; sustained trust requires conduct that can withstand scrutiny. The temptation during a campaign is to treat frequency as persuasion and spectacle as substance. Yet the most durable narrative is one that connects a promise to a record, a policy to an outcome, and an ambition to a credible path for delivery. Without that connection, even the most expensive campaign can leave the most important questions unanswered.
There is also a responsibility on the part of the wider information ecosystem. Media organisations should interrogate claims rather than simply reproduce them. Advertising operators and regulators should apply transparent rules to the use of public-facing spaces. Civil society, professional associations and citizens can insist that campaign debates include the issues that affect daily life. None of these responsibilities requires hostility towards politics. They require the recognition that elections are a means of renewing public authority, not a holiday from public accountability.
Perhaps the most important shift is in the questions we ask when we encounter the next smiling face above a busy road. Not simply: Who is this? Or how often have I seen this slogan? But: What has been delivered? What evidence supports the claim? What remains unresolved? And what would success look like in measurable terms? These questions do not belong to one party, region or candidate. They belong to any society that expects political competition to produce better government rather than simply more advertising.
By all means, let the billboards speak. Let campaigns present ideas, and let the advertising industry benefit from legitimate demand. But let public performance speak just as clearly. The true measure of leadership is not how prominently a face appears above our highways, but what citizens can see, use and experience beneath them.
As Nigeria approaches another election, the narrative worth elevating is not the volume of the promise but the evidence of its fulfilment. This is why the narrative matters.
About the author:
Dr. Omolaraeni Olaosebikan is a strategic communications and reputation management expert, corporate and marketing communications professional, and CEO of McEnies Global Communications. She is the founder of The Narrative Matters®, a thought-leadership platform exploring leadership, communication, strategy and national development.