LASEPA seals 250 firms in three months for environmental offences

• Says reforms for noiseless, pollution-free environment in Lagos
• NESREA seals facilities in Abuja for violating environmental laws

As part of the efforts to achieve improved, safer and sustainable environment, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), yesterday, said that it had in the last three months, sealed about 250 organisations, including industries, night-clubs and worship places, for noise pollution and other environmental infractions.

General Manager of LASEPA, Dr Babatunde Ajayi, who disclosed this during the agency’s one-day capacity-building training for its accredited consultants across the state, said that the agency would embark on a lot of reforms geared towards achieving a noiseless, cleaner, safer and pollution-free environment in the state.

Ajayi said that the training was meant to update the consultants’ knowledge on the current trends in addressing global climate change challenges and other environmental problems for sustainable development.

RELATEDLY, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) said it had shut down 15 facilities for environmental crimes in Abuja.

Director-General of NESREA, Prof. Aliyu Jauro, who disclosed yesterday, said that the sealed facilities failed to abate their environmental infractions after a series of compliance notices issued to them.

He said: “We have followed due process in clamping down on the establishments. Before enforcement, we embarked on compliance monitoring and issued the necessary warning to defaulting facilities.”

Jauro, therefore, frowned on the high level of non-compliance in the construction sector where 12 facilities were sealed, saying that the refusal of the developers to adhere to regulatory provisions had led to loss of lives and property.