Lagos moves to promote environmental sustainability with awards for compliance

Lagos State Government has disclosed plans to hold an industrial pollution abatement award for industries to recognise and award industries with sound pollution abatement systems, across all sectors.

The Cleanest Award ceremony, also known as the Lagos Industrial Pollution Abatement Award (LIPAA), is scheduled for Tuesday, November 26, 2024, at the Adeyemi-Bero Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

The General Manager of Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Dr. Tunde Ajayi, who disclosed this, said that the Year 2024 LIPAA award is aimed at encouraging industries, especially manufacturing organisations to implement pollution prevention measures and stop the practice of discharging untreated waste (liquid or gaseous) directly into the environment or water bodies for public safety and the ecosystem.

According to Ajayi, the award will also encourage industries operating in the State to prioritise cleanliness and public safety in their operations, thereby, ensuring more compliance with government standard regulations on pollution control, industrial waste management, and effluent discharge for the safety of the environment and the general public.

He disclosed that the initiative was conceived when it was observed during the agency’s routine industrial inspection, that several industrial organisations operating in the State were mostly operating without pollution abatement plants in place, thereby discharging their untreated waste (liquid or gaseous) directly into the environment/water bodies.

Also, some of those organisations with existing treatment plants have packed them up for one technical problem or the other, thereby discharging raw effluent and air pollutants into the environment against the standard manufacturing regulations.

Ajayi further disclosed that the award and prizes to be given have been categorised into nine sections within the industrial sectors, meaning that each of the sectors will be recognised and awarded for being the best in cleanliness and compliance with the State environmental regulations in their respective sectors.

The nine industrial sectors, according to Ajayi, include Foods, Beverages and Tobacco, Paints and Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Iron and Steel, domestic/Industrial Plastics, and Rubber. Other Sectors include Pulp/Paper, Printing and Publishing, Cosmetics, Soap and Detergents, and Non-metallic and Mineral Products.

He further explained that the award of recognition which will be made an annual event, will be given to the winners and two runners-up in each category.

Ajayi added that the ceremony will be attended by top government officials including representatives of the members of the Lagos State Executive Council, (Lagos EXCO), Lagos State House of Assembly, Captains of Industry and other dignitaries drawn from the Public and private sectors.