Section 17: Penalties.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, any person who displays or issues an advertisement in contravention of the provisions of section 16 of this Act, or causes an advertisement to be displayed or issued in contravention of those provisions, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction-
(a) if it is his first conviction of an offence under this section, to a fine not exceeding one hundred naira;
(b) in any other case, to a fine not exceeding four hundred naira.
(2) Where a person is charged with an offence under this section, it shall be a defence to prove-
(a) that the matters contained in the advertisement did not relate to anything to be done in the course of a business carried on by him; and
(b) that the matters so contained were not (wholly or in part) devised or selected by him or by any other person under his direction or control.
(3) Where an offence under this section committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:
Provided that, for the purposes of the application of subsection (2) of this section to any proceedings, in so far as they are brought against a person by virtue of this subsection in respect of an offence committed by a body corporate, references in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2) of this section to the person charged shall be construed as references to the body corporate.