BREAKING NEWS, Environment, Featured
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The Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency has sealed up more than 40 premises including hotels and worship centres which indulge in noise pollution
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Aug 17, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT |
THE Lagos State government is wielding the big hammer on religious organisation and business enterprises which contravened the law on noise pollution in the state. The Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, LASEPA, on Monday, August 3, sealed hotels, churches and mosques across the state over alleged air and noise pollution. The agency sealed more than 40 facilities in Ketu, Ikorodu, Ibeju-Lekki, Victoria Island and Surulere areas of the state.
The LASEPA said the owners of the facilities had been warned several times in the last one year but they refused to fully comply with its instructions. At a mosque in Ketu, the leaders of the mosque claimed to have taken down their speakers as instructed by the agency almost immediately. However, the mosque was sealed for allegedly not complying fully with LASEPA’s instruction.
Other places also sealed include the Rain of Power and Miracles Ministry Church, Lekki; Christ Apostolic Church, Lekki; Duckland Hotels and Suites, Ikorodu; and Mela Rossa Club, Victoria Island.
At the Hardley Apartments, it was noticed that the generators powering the hotel had large exhaust pipes facing the road. Kayode Bello, director of enforcement, ordered that one of the generators be tested, and it was discovered that it gave off thick gaseous emissions. Bello said, “Even the sound is going to be more than 45 decibels at night. We want you to comply that is the reason we are here. We have been on this for more than a year.”
Rasheed Shabi, LASEPA general Manager, in a press briefing on Monday. said, “The environment belongs to every one of us. Lagosians need to live in peace. A survey was carried out by an international organisation and it was discovered that 60 percent of Nigerians have hearing problem. LASEPA, in the last two to three years, has been conducting surveys on religious houses, and our findings revealed that 95 per cent of them do not have approval to operate in Lagos.
“Most houses and club houses do not have fiscal planning approval. Before you can build any hotel anywhere in the world, there must be an environmental impact assessment. Most of the markets we have in Lagos State; we have people using trucks to sell their products with speakers to disturb the peace of Lagosians. Soon, we will tow as many trucks as possible to get them off the streets,” he said.
Shabi said the owners of the places sealed would sign an undertaking that they would comply with instructions meant to clean up the environment. “After today, the enforcement unit will go round. Anybody that breaks the seal has violated the Lagos State law. We will then involve the ministry of justice.”
The Lagos State House of Assembly had on Tuesday, July 28, ordered the state ministry of information to sensitise the public on dangers noise pollution pose to the well-being of people. The Assembly observed that there were regulations to control noise pollution which were not enforced by the executive arm of government in the state.
The lawmakers during their plenary session took turns to express dissatisfaction over the menace noise pollution poses to health and the need to stem its tide in the state. Abiodun Tobun, who moved the motion to enlighten the public on dangers, decried the high level of noise pollution arising from the blaring of music by vendors, street party organisers, religious organisations and outdoor advertisers.
He also frowned at indiscriminate use of horns by motorists and cyclists on major highways in the states. “The high level of noise has become a major source of health hazard as recently raised by the Nigeria Hearing and Speech Association, NHSA, that more Nigerians are suffering from hear impairment as a result of noise pollution.
“Noise pollution has increased the risk of hypertension and other incurable diseases and must be stemmed. There is no proper enforcement of Section 9 (a) of the LASEPA Law 1996, aimed at controlling noise pollution in a cosmopolitan state like Lagos with over 15 million residents,” he said.
The Assembly, after a voice vote, passed the resolution calling for more public enlightenment. It also called on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to direct the general manager of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, LASEPA, to discharge the statutory responsibility conferred on it by Section 9 (a) of the state Environmental Protection Agency Law, 1996. The House also called on the state ministry of home affairs and culture to ensure that the use of public address systems was discouraged within the community so as not to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the citizens.
Noise pollution has become a challenge for residents in various parts of Lagos. Residents in various parts of the metropolis have to cope with noise pollution emanating from worship and viewing centres, barbing salons, record shops, promotional campaigns, ice cream sellers, commercial motorists and other business ventures.
Related Story: Lagos Legislators Want Noise Pollution Stopped
— Aug 17, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT
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That law is null and void. These politicans are thinkless and senseless. The same people that went around campigning and making noise disturbing the peace of the city are now making law against the noise for churches and mosques.