Tag: LASEPA

THE no-smoking campaign will soon hit motor parks and garages, the General Manager/Chief Executive Officer of Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) Mr. Ademola Shabi has said.

He said LASEPA would take the campaign to motor parks and garages in order to ensure that many people are mobilised to support the law which is to regulate the consumption of cigarette or other tobacco products in public places.

According to him, schedule 2 of the law classifies all motor parks, garages and public/commercial vehicles as public places, where smoking is prohibited.

He said taking the sensitisation train to these places is to draw the awareness of these operators to the existence of the law as ignorance would not be tenable as excuses once the law takes effect on August 17.

He said: “It is our desire to ensure that as many people as possible are made aware of this law which is meant to regulate how we indulge in our pleasure. Going by the law, Lagosians have six months within which to get familiarised with the law so that by the time it takes effect no one would claim ignorance.”

He said under the law, a first time offender would be liable to a fine of N10, 000 or one month imprisonment or both, while repeated offenders risk paying a fine of N50, 000 or six months imprisonment or both.

Shabi, who observed that many drivers indulge in smoking, said from August 17, it would be an offence to smoke cigarette or any other tobacco products outside designated areas.

He listed public places to include public libraries, nursery, kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, all public transportation systems and commercial vehicles, any private vehicle that has more than one person, garages, motor parks, hospitals, streets or high roads, event centres, bars/restaurants, hotels, and any other places that is used for public entertainment.

He said though the law did not ban the advertisement and sale of cigarette in the state, it restricts smokers to indulge in their pleasure without constituting any hazard to non-smokers and the environment.

According to Shabi, not only is cigarette contributing to the green house gasses, and an impediment to clean environment, it has also been proved to be a major cause of all forms of cancer in man.

He said LASEPA would be looking forward to the support of leaders of all transportation unions in the state to ensure that their members adhere strictly to the law.

“No matter what you choose to smoke, whether weeds, cigar or cigarette, or tobacco, the law is totally against public smoking and LASEPA is putting machinery in place to ensure that the entire state, including the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas (LCDA) are effectively covered for effective implementation of the law,” he said.

Earlier, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr Yewande Adesina, said cigarette smoking has been identified as the single largest contributor of cancer in human beings.

She said though smokers are exposed to serious health hazards, passive smokers, known as secondary smokers are exposed to even more hazards.

She said cigarette smoking has been identified as the cause of asthma, cough, cold or ear infections in babies, while cigarettes have been identified as responsible for sundry birth defects in pregnant women.

Mrs Adesina, who represented Governor Babatunde Fashola at the sensitisation campaign, said non-smoking law  has further confirmed the high premium the government places on the health of all residents in the state.

While suing for the support and understanding of all Lagosians in making the law work, Fashola said Lagos should not contribute to the growing statistics of people who die yearly of cancer, put at about two million.