Nigeria, April 4 -- Conflicting directives from Abuja municipal agencies and an unyielding minister may have cost Nigeria an opportunity to set a global record with the construction of what would have been the world's biggest billboard in the country's capital, Abuja.

The shoddy handling of the approval for the construction of the billboard by Abuja city officials has also cost Lona Global Resources Limited, an indigenous outdoor advertising company building the billboard, at least N800 million in wasted investment and a debt lawsuit to boot.

In 2017, when Idoko Ilonah, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Lona Global Resources, broached the idea of erecting the biggest billboard in the world, he was trying to outdo his other records in...