The Lagos State Government has shut down Marina’s Workers Mosque on Lagos Island, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria over poor waste management and also vowed to shut down filthy markets across the state.
The government added that it had declared zero tolerance on environmental nuisance in the state,
While monitoring the October edition of the monthly sanitation exercise in Mainland and Lagos Island Local Governments, Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Samuel Adejare stated that any filthy market and motor parks in the state would be shut indefinitely if they did not put their environment in proper shape.
Adejare said the declaration of zero tolerance in Lagos metropolis was to save the state from disaster resulting from unkempt environment.
“That is why we ordered the closure of the mosque for discharging effluent in the drainage. Marina is our pride, asset and our heritage. We cannot allow anyone to mess it up. This mosque is a temporary building for worship, but we cannot tolerate improper waste disposal.
“There is no emotional feeling attached to it. We cannot allow that in Central Lagos. You can all see how they discharged their sewage on the road. Even God will not accept that and I will not allow that,” he stated.
He lamented that religious house had violated the State’s environmental law, saying that any outfit that violate the environmental law would not be spared, while also decrying the environmental condition of the Island Central Business Districts, CBD which was the commercial hub of the state.
Adejare said the CBD had degenerated due to the activities of street traders and indiscriminate discharge of waste.
“Due to this, we have set-up taskforce comprising Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI officers to ensure that the CBD is well improved upon. This is our CBD and companies make so much money from here. They have to maintain the atmosphere here.”
“The present administration will only cooperate with drivers and market unions that are ready to take ownership of parks and markets through proper management of their environment. We won’t send them away if they are ready to take ownership of their environment through proper cleaning. But if they are not serious about it, we will dislodge them and restore sanity in the areas,” he warned.
“We will shut such park or market that have environmental challenged. We cannot allow cholera outbreak. This (market) is where we buy what we eat daily. And that was why I have decided to make Lagos environment my office and not Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja.
“We are here to make change and take the state to the next level. On Ilaje Otumora slum, in Lagos Mainland Local Government, we are going to sit down and find solution to it. In fact one of our drainage systems that we channeled into the lagoon has been blocked. So, we are going to stop that from happening”, he said.
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