Group seeks enforcement of environmental laws in Lagos

The Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), a Lagos-based non-governmental, not-for-profit organization has urged the state government to extend the operations of Environmental Sanitation and Special Offence Unit to the inner streets of the metropolis.

Speaking during a road walk by CEPEJ’s officials in Isolo area of the state, the centre’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, said the call became necessary against the background of indiscriminate dumping of waste inside drainage facilities and on walkways despite repeated warnings to residents to desist from the indecent act.

Blaming the recurring incident of flooding in the state on blocked drainage and canals, Mulade noted that if the men of the unit had been going into the streets to enforce the laws on environmental sanitation, flooding would have been curtailed in Lagos.

He therefore called on the Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration to give necessary backing to men of the unit to bring erring residents to book and as deterrent to others.

Mulade explained, in several instances, “residents have turned drainage facilities into refuse dumps, unmindful of the dangers such act portends to the environment.”

According to the CEPEJ boss, Lagos being a coastal city is prone to flooding hence, the need for concerted efforts to rid the city of the menace. “It is common sight to see flood water from blocked drainage spill into the streets at the slightest drops of rain. The dirty water come with debris including plastic bottles, nylon sachets and other waste materials.

“This does not only deface the city, it poses health hazards to school pupils who have to wade through the flooded roads while going or returning from school. In some cases, the adults are also not spared of the trauma as some of them pay in order to be ferried to dry portions.”

On the road walk, the CEPEJ Corporate Communications Manager, Mrs. Victoria Ajayi, said the quarterly exercise was in line with the centre’s advocacy for best environmental health practices in our cities and communities.