The Lagos State government issued a warning to its citizens over the weekend to stop engaging in harmful environmental practices that could jeopardise efforts to safeguard the environment from deterioration and other repercussions of climate change.
The state government further stated that any individual or group found to be causing environmental degradation in any way could face legal action from its different environmental sustainability agencies.
Tokunbo Wahab, the state’s commissioner for the environment and water resources, delivered the charge this past weekend during a ministerial press briefing to mark the first year of governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu’s second term in office.
The commissioner disclosed that the state government is devoting enormous resources to preventing environmental deterioration in all its manifestations, with a particular focus on combating climate change and its consequential impacts on human well-being and the ecology.
He revealed that the state government would intensify efforts on enforcement to ensure compliance with the environmental laws to achieve a vision for a sustainable environment. Wahab disclosed that the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), which acts like the state environmental police, in the last three months carried out 367 enforcement operations in households , markets, hotels, warehouses, sales points, industries, worship centers , Night clubs and other places for various environmental violations, while abatement notices were served on others for discharging raw sewage into the lagoon.
Wahab warned against unfavourable environmental habits that could lead to climate change action, expressing concern about the state’s poor air quality levels in several areas as reported in LASEPA’s weekly updates of the Air quality index.