The
incessant use of live band music at various beer parlours, restaurants
and food joints have been banned in Lagos state while religious houses
have been warned to procure sound proof in order to minimise the effect
of noise.
Gov. Akinwumni Ambode
The Lagos State Government has banned live band music at various
beer parlours, restaurants and food joints in the state and imposed a
fine of N500,000 for offenders.
The government also warned religious houses to procure sound proof
in order to minimise the effect of noise generated on their neighbouring
residents.
This was even as the government raised the alarm over the rate at
which residents unknowingly consumed poisonous water through underground
sources, warning the petrol stations in the state to install monitoring
well in their filling stations or face serious sanction.
General Manager, Lagos State Environment Protection Agency
(LASEPA), Adebola Shabi said in Lagos that most households were
ignorantly drinking water already contaminated by petrochemical
substances through underground water, saying that the research recently
conducted in the state’s agency, Alimosho area of the state recorded the
highest contaminated water by petrochemical substance.
He said the decision on noise pollution came on the heels of
increasing rate of petitions by residents, who were lamenting the
frequent disturbance from the bear parlour, club houses and religious
houses.
Shabi stated that Lagos would not fold its harm and allow residents
to continue to consume what could lead to cancer in the long run,
alleging that a lot of foods and drugs items taken and consumed by
Nigerians contain substances dangerous for consumption.
According to him, a recent research conducted by the agency on well
water and boreholes across the state revealed that some under ground
water contain particles, substances and chemical reactions from
petroleum substances which people drink regularly in the state.
Shabi, who also decried the rate at which residential areas were
being converted to commercial areas without government’s approval,
blamed the residents for not informing the government about the
development.
He said some of the developments were sited in the places without
the Environmental Impact Assessment which, according to him, would
enable the government plan for the area or possibly disallow the project
from being sited in the area.
He also bemoaned practice of parking vehicles on the street for
too long, saying residents must also report such in order not to
jeopardise the state’s efforts at boosting the security in the state.
Shabi stated that it was mandatory for religious houses to procure
sound proof to reduce the effect of noise pollution on the residents.
On procurement of sound proof for churches, mosques, and bear parlour and restaurants, Shabi added:
“Any new churches to built must come and get a sign off from the
agency, the old one should start putting sound proof now. It must be
acoustic.”
While harping on the ban of live ban at the joints and other places, the LASEPA boss warned: ”any
complaint from the residents henceforth there will be sanction. They
must obtain permit to do so and failure to obtain permit, the fine is
N500, 000. We must discourage needless noise making at our residences.”
He insisted that the Olusosun dump site and another popular dump
site along LASU-Igando road would be relocated, adding that Governor
Akinwunmi Ambode had indicated plan to remove the dumpsites.
“Let me also use this medium to inform the Baales and other
community leaders and residents to inform the police and government on
strange development in their areas. A lot of development takes place
unknown to government because people in the area refuse to inform the
government and this why residential areas are converted to industrial
areas. EIA is essential in any development and the community must be
carried along in doing it.
“There will no be issue that Ire-Akari area in Isolo has been
turned to commercial area. People refuse to talk or raise alarm when
the areas was being turn to industrial area,” he said.
Shabi, who said the agency had discovered that hundreds of homes in
Lagos particularly areas with much concentration of filling stations
were consuming contaminated water with petrochemical substances, said
that it was mandating the filling stations to immediately install
monitor well in their station especially those who are yet to do so.
According to him, “We have mandated all the petrol stations in
Lagos State to install monitoring well and we will start the enforcement
any moment from Easter holiday. This order was given in September last
year. This is to check self regulation. This is to check leakage from
their underground facilities. A two-year research was also conducted in
LASEPA.
“We picked over 100 water samples from Alimosho, being the most
populous area in the state, down to Epe. You will be amazed that out of
the water samples we took only few are good for consumption. When we
have theses results ours is to interpret with statistical model. After
we examine the cause of the problem in the water, we discovered that the
highest cause was petroleum product in the water, the other were
microbial load due to the proximity of the well or boreholes to the soak
away.
“Most people just call labourers to come and dig their
boreholes without consideration for the flow of ground water. The
monitoring well must be done by a technically inclined person because
they must look at the flow of the oil and the water. The same way when
digging borehole, the flow of the water must be considered with flow of
the soak away.
"All these will help in averting needless deaths and diseases.
But most of the contaminated water in the state are as a result of
petrochemical substance in them due to the citing of the petrol station
in residential areas. We all know that petrol substances penetration in
the grand is faster especially when the ground is not clayish.”
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