LAWMA seeks support to prosecute offenders

By Okwy Iroegbu – ­Chikezie

The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) is seeking support from the Lagos State Judiciary to prosecute offenders.

LAWMA, Managing Director, Ibrahim Odumboni, stated this when he visited the Chief Judge of the State with other stakeholders Thursday.

He said the idea is to seek legal backing to stem the current negative trend in the State where residents illegally and in discriminatorily dispose waste in clear violation of the state laws guiding waste management.

Odumboni s disclosed that Lagos because of its increasing population currently generates over 14,000 metric tons of waste daily, while an individual generates 0.6 kg minimum on a regular basis.

“Our visit is to plead with the Ministry of Justice that existing environmental laws should be implemented, and offenders prosecuted. The Environmental Protection Law of 2017 requires that every house should have a bin, but this is not enforced,” he stated.

“Our team keeps working on sensitizing the people through the media, radio jingles, and the rest, but the people still violate the laws and so the need for the enforcement of the law,” he said.

The Chief Justice represented by the Chief Registrar, Lagos State Judiciary, Mrs. Bukola Okunuga stated that the inflow of people into the state cannot be curbed, but measures must be put in place to protect the environment.

The Executive Secretary, Judicial Commission, Mrs. Bukola Salami, stated that there should be a synergy of all the stakeholders, LAWMA, Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWMN), the Judiciary and the Judicial Service Commission to re-evaluate these laws as it pertains to the proposed direction of enforcement being discussed and revert to the stakeholders.

The President, Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria, David Oriyomi stated that as the rainy season approaches, and Lagos being a coastal State is subject to flooding. “Unfortunately, our people throw their refuse in to the drainage’s without minding the consequences, we want to ensure that this does not happen this time around,” he said.