{"id":1815,"date":"2017-03-12T10:34:58","date_gmt":"2017-03-12T10:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/?p=1815"},"modified":"2017-03-12T10:34:58","modified_gmt":"2017-03-12T10:34:58","slug":"lagos-chance-join-league-worlds-cleanest-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/lagos-chance-join-league-worlds-cleanest-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Lagos\u2019 chance to join the league of world\u2019s cleanest cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

O<\/strong>ne <\/strong>of the major challenges of cosmopolitan cities in the world is\u00a0 environmental pollution. What invariably separates the men (clean cities) from the boys (filthy cities) is how\u00a0 effective,\u00a0 and even preemptive,\u00a0 multiethnic\u00a0 cities\u00a0 are in managing their waste disposal processes. That is the bedrock of a clean society. For Lagos, with its titanicpopulation, coupled with\u00a0 the\u00a0 congested city\u00a0 centres, which had given rise to satellite towns and slums,\u00a0 the inability to maintain\u00a0 statewide\u00a0 pristine\u00a0 environmental sanitation has been a serious clog in the wheel of progress.<\/p>\n

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Though attempts\u00a0 were\u00a0 made in the past by successive administrations in the\u00a0 state\u00a0 to tackle the problems headlong,\u00a0 the\u00a0 issue of proper waste disposal\u00a0 and transformation of Lagos into\u00a0 an immaculate environment,\u00a0 proved a\u00a0 hard nut to crack. The desire for a cleaner Lagos\u00a0 pigheadedly remaineda mirage. While concerted efforts were made to make the state live up to its sobriquet, the Centre of Excellence,\u00a0 by making its environment cleaner and serene, little result was achieved as\u00a0 Lagos state continued to expand\u00a0 to accommodate itsgrowing population.<\/p>\n

The waterways and canals had been turned into\u00a0 dumpsites, while\u00a0 the ugly sight\u00a0 of\u00a0 people defecating openly into the\u00a0 canals and drainages\u00a0 became a\u00a0 routine. Areas designated as\u00a0 public parks and\u00a0 open spaces,\u00a0 were\u00a0 turned to safe havens for criminals. All these\u00a0 aberrations largely turned the state to an eyesore and\u00a0 one of\u00a0 the dirtiest in the country despite being the commercial nerve\u00a0 centre, not only of Nigeria but the West\u00a0 Africa\u00a0 sub-region.<\/p>\n

Apparently determined to reverse the\u00a0 horrid\u00a0 trend, the administration of\u00a0 Asiwaju\u00a0 Bola Ahmed\u00a0 Tinubu\u00a0 set up Kick\u00a0 Against\u00a0 Indiscipline (KAI) to ensure\u00a0 a\u00a0 neater and cleaner Lagos. With the establishment of KAI, it became an offence to litter the environment and failure to properly dispose waste was no longer tolerated. The\u00a0 culture\u00a0 of indiscriminate throwing of waste out of vehicles abated, as commercial vehicles were mandated to provide\u00a0 wastebaskets.<\/p>\n

Equally, the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) was repositioned to offer<\/a> quality and timely services in the area of waste disposal, while dumpsters were provided in major locations for the populace to dispose their waste.\u00a0 The fear of\u00a0 KAI officials and their mobile courtsbecame the beginning of wisdom for\u00a0 Lagosians\u00a0 who realized\u00a0 that\u00a0 failure\u00a0 to\u00a0 observe environmental norms\u00a0 would henceforth have\u00a0 dire consequences.<\/p>\n

Lagos residents suddenly realized that the\u00a0 task to keep\u00a0 a tidier Lagos was no longer a joke.<\/p>\n

In the area of environmental pollution, emission test on vehicles was introduced and made compulsory, while a great leap was achieved in curbing blockage of the waterways, drainages and canals with refuse. No doubt,\u00a0 the steps by Lagos\u00a0 towards\u00a0 a\u00a0 garbage-free environment were on a sound footing.<\/p>\n

Consequently,\u00a0 the\u00a0 Babatunde\u00a0 Raji\u00a0 Fashola\u00a0 (SAN) administration concentrated on the beautification of Lagos\u00a0 landscape, with a view to creating\u00a0 an aesthetic, serene and idyllic environment so that Lagos could wear the look it deserved.<\/p>\n

Obviously determined to consolidate on\u00a0 the efforts of his predecessors\u00a0 in\u00a0 actualising\u00a0 a cleaner Lagos, the incumbent administration of\u00a0 Akiwunmi\u00a0 Ambode, decided to raise the ante with the inauguration of\u00a0 the\u00a0 Cleaner Lagos Initiative.<\/p>\n

To bridge the lacuna and cater for the inadequacies that had\u00a0 bedeviled\u00a0 prior attempts by Lagos State to\u00a0 achieve a cleaner environment,\u00a0 Governor\u00a0 Ambode\u00a0 pushed and ensured necessary legal reforms (legislation) were\u00a0 put in place. So,with\u00a0 the new\u00a0 Environmental Management and Protection Bill, passed by the Lagos State House of Assembly, Kick\u00a0 AgainstIndiscipline (KAI), will be transformed into the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps Agency.<\/p>\n

This agency will spearhead enforcement of the stringent penalties imposed on defaulters. This bill, which has been accented to by\u00a0 Ambode, would ensure, among others, that structures on sewage systems without approval\u00a0 aredemolished, all commercial drivers have litter bins in their vehicles, enforce the ban on street trading as well as ensurethat residents obtain permits before sinking boreholes.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, when KAI officers are fully integrated into LASECORPS, the agency will be tasked with monitoring and maintaining surveillance along the highways, streets and public drainages, canals, markets and parks and will have the primary responsibility of ensuring that citizens\u00a0 fulfill\u00a0 their civic duty by paying the Public Utilities Levy- a property-based charge, payable by property occupants for the management of solid and liquid waste, wastewater and environmental intervention for Lagos State.<\/p>\n

In the same vein, LASECORPS\u00a0 will be supported by PUMAU (Public Utilities Monitoring Assurance Unit) a unit that will have oversight responsibility by using innovative monitoring tools to ensure the new standards are effectively enforced.<\/p>\n

Depending on the nature of the offence,\u00a0 defaulters of the\u00a0 new\u00a0 laws will face stiff penalties\u00a0 ranging from N250,000\u00a0 to N5,000,000 and\/or imprisonment.\u00a0 The state government has deliberately set a stringent penalty in order to discourage environmental misdemeanor and consciously navigate an attitudinal change towards acceptable ecological norms.\u00a0 The\u00a0 message is clear, mess up Lagos and pay\u00a0 through the nose.<\/p>\n

On the mandatory provision of litterbins in commercial vehicles, the law expressly says: \u201cIf the driver fails to provide the litter bin, the driver will also be penalized alongside the passenger or the occupier of the vehicle who commits the offence\u201d.<\/p>\n

On all illegal structures built on the sewage systems without approval,\u00a0 the expressly stated\u00a0 that\u00a0 such structures will be demolished.<\/p>\n

Also in the new law, anyone who wants to sink borehole or any structure connected with the supply of water must obtain permit from the office of drainage services.<\/p>\n

Though, the new environmental bill was meant to ensure a cleaner Lagos, tackle air\u00a0 and water pollution, prevent diseases and halt\u00a0 the deterioration of the environment to avert advert effects\u00a0 on socio-economic activities, the\u00a0 attendant\u00a0 benefit of creating about 27,500 new jobs for teeming\u00a0 Lagosians,\u00a0 will indeed be a welcome relief.<\/p>\n

With this giant leap towards ensuring a\u00a0 well protected\u00a0 and dirt-free environment, Lagos, under the leadership of Ambode, despite\u00a0 its\u00a0 huge population\u00a0 (human and vehicular),\u00a0 is set to provide the best salubrious environment for Nigerians to live in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One of the major challenges of cosmopolitan cities in the world is\u00a0 environmental pollution. What invariably … Lagos\u2019 chance to join the league of world\u2019s cleanest cities<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[519,15258,684,3058,522,41,337],"class_list":["post-1815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opportunities-in-new-markets","tag-africa","tag-indeed","tag-lagos","tag-location","tag-nigeria","tag-property","tag-worlds-cleanest-cities"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}