The Chairman of the Environment Committee of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Saka Fafunmi, spoke with OZIEGBE OKOEKI on why the House is considering an executive bill seeking to merge eight laws on the environment and what the state will benefit from the amendment.
Why are you merging the eight environmental laws in Lagos State?
The intendement of the state for choosing to have a compendium of all the laws stems from the fact that there is need for the state to embrace the challenges that we are confronting. Basically, you will agree with me that the exigencies of the moment does not give room for state alone to take care of our environmental needs and as such state is looking at how we can bring other parties. The law as it is does not make provision for private sector or individual or any stakeholder to participate or contribute in managing the environment. But as a necessity we feel that we need to amend the law so that we can have a trust fund through individuals, stakeholders and well-meaning Nigerians, and major players in the environment can contribute to the growth and development of the environment where they operate which the former law essentially did not address. And there is a need because of the down-turn in the economy, the global melt-down all over, there is a need for us to allow private participation or through a concessionaire to come in and fill the gap where we feel that our efforts or the efforts of the local contractors are grossly inadequate. You will agree with me that, despite our various attempts to ensure a clean environment in Lagos, you still go to some parts of Lagos and you wonder if you are in Lagos. And in a way, as a government, the governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has zero tolerance to filthy environment. He feels that environment as of a right, that every citizen of Lagos should have a serene environment, because you and I understand the fact that what you throw at the environment that the environment throws back at you. And some times the way the environment throws it back at us we might not and most times we don’t have the capacity to absolve the effect.
Is that why you are merging the laws?
And in a way we feel that there is essentially need for us to improve on our environment; that leads to the need for us to have a compendium of our laws so as to obliterate every form of overlap in the discharge of the statutory functions under this law. And more importantly to say that we are able to have a compendium of law for ease of referencing in the court and outside the court. Anybody should be able to pick the law on environment and see everything as it affects the environment. So the bulk of what we are doing, the proposal that the ministry brought to us and the office of the Attorney-General for the state was tilting towards repealing certain sections of the law and keeping some areas. But looking at the law of LAWMA and some other agencies, the reforms there are quite remarkable, that as the chairman of the committee, for me to even import all the relevant laws into one document so as to address issues of, to prevent overlap among other things and have one law that would address all issues of environment. And I think it is in the best interest of any investor who wants to know anything about Lagos state, and Lagos being the state of excellence and the trail blazer, you know we break new grounds in everything in the country and that is why we show that this is another ground breaking law. Because if you go to any other state it is possible you will see their law in different statue. But we are saying look, Lagos, for ease of referencing, administration, doing the business of governance and environment let us have these laws in one document.
The import of the bill is that about eight agencies or more will come under one management when it eventually becomes law. Will that not be too cumbersome for the management?
We have seriously looked at that even at the executive briefing and we know that we shall do justice to that. The essence of having agencies in place is for them to operate and prevent every form of bureaucracy in their process. An agency is set up to perform certain task and obligations and when you now want to bring all of them under the ambit of one man as you have rightly identified, we have looked at it, that is not the intendement. The intendement is for the man to do supervisory role.
