.says no going back on single use plastics ban, commencing in January ’24

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

Lagos State Government on Wednesday restated that the on-going massive enforcement of environmental laws across the metropolis was not based on wickedness or high handedness but in the interest of the general public.

The state’s Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab stated this while speaking on an online platform, an X Space programme: tagged; “Ask Lagos Live,” with the topic: “Lagos and the battle for a Clean, Sustainable and Resilient Environment.”

He therefore, appealed to residents not to see the enforcement actions from the angle of wickedness but see it as an essential part of good governance.

According to him, “I want to thank all Lagosians, I would like to also appeal to us to jointly rescue this environment and make it better than we met it for the generations to come. Be rest assured, things are getting better but we will not drop the ball.”

He pledged the readiness of the present administration to continually enforce the state environmental laws on noise pollution, street partying, street trading among others to the benefit of the greater majority of residents.

Wahab, added that as part of efforts to sanitize the environment, some offending churches and mosques have been sealed for noise pollution in the last few months because such religious houses cannot continue to inconvenient residents with their religious activities.

He stressed that Lagos with its unique topography and smallest landmass houses about 10 per cent of the country’s population and that it experiences the influx of people on daily basis thus putting pressures on its infrastructure including that of the environment.

Wahab said the environment is the master of man and that if everyone chooses to treat the environment very well, it will be better for everyone and generations to come, adding that with the help of resilient infrastructure in place, the state has been able handle the liquid waste and 13,000 tons of municipal solid waste generated on a daily basis.

He said waste management is an issue which the state government is tackling head-on with LAWMA, adding that the introduction of Private Sector Participants, PSP operators was a game changer but that the operation has been held down by the refusal of the average residents to pay for the waste he or she generates.

Gbadegesin, added that the state government in the last one year has initialed different Memoranda of Understanding, MOUs with different reputable companies on waste conversion, waste to wealth while efforts are on stream to decommission the major landfill sites in the state.

“We have so much to do, the city is growing daily and most importantly we will keep advocating, advising our friends, neighbors and our families that the drainage system is not a place to put your waste into. It just shows bad behavior. Let us take ownership of our environment. It will reduce the burden on LAWMA. There are PSP operators everywhere in the state and are ready to cart away our refuse,” he stated.

Wahab said in the past few years the government has been putting in place resilient infrastructure to help discharge the storm water and reduce the issues bothering on flash flooding across the state.

He noted that some years ago some individuals choose to deliberately blocked system 156, they made sure it never existed, so that perpetually every household around that area get flooded annually either it is raining or not.

Wahab added that the government had meetings with home owners, residents and developers at their instance and were given two options. To find a way to deflood the orchid corridor or else all the investment people are making on that corridor will go into waste, saying the residents have come up with a design that will replace the system 156 that they blocked and widen the width of 157 to discharge more water.

“I was there last week and I commended them that now that you’ve come up with a design yourself and you are funding it. What we did was to help them fund the upper leg of it from government purse while they funded the other one with their design and from the rain that just abated you can attest to it that the flooding around the Orchid Area wasn’t that much this past rainy season it’s because of the decision we took.

“People should take a look at what is happening in Germany and the whole of Europe, the way flood and flash flooding is taking them down and these are countries that have super infrastructure than Lagos. The government can’t allow a costal state to be destroyed but will do everything humanly possible to protect the lives of the 22million plus residents,” Wahab stated.

No going back on single use plastics ban

He explained that the next stage of ban on plastics is the single use plastics for which a moratorium of 12 months will come to an end in January 2025 in addition to the ban of styrofoam food containers which is currently in full force.

“For the issue of single use pure water sachets, what the State government has chosen to do is to set up a fund that will be managed by the private sector and government officials and we shall have a buy-back of sachets water waste. The policy in place is a global policy.

“The Ministry is also ramping up advocacy, awareness and enforcement towards finding a lasting solution to the menace of open defecation and which include; setting up enforcement gangs and applying the non-custodial sentences on offenders especially those who show remorse.”