The Lagos State Government has sent a 14-day removal notice to owners of buildings and structures built on drainage channels.
News About Nigeria reports that Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, disclosed this on Sunday.
Wahab announced this after an inspection tour of various contravention sites and ongoing drainage enforcement projects in Ago Palace Way, Isolo, Sangotedo, Lekki, and Ikoyi areas of the state on Sunday.
Wahab said the state government will enforce legal measures on defaulters to restore sanity in the state.
He said, “The era of environmental indiscipline and nuisance is over in Lagos. We will not shy away from enforcing all relevant laws, irrespective of whose ox is gored.”
He further emphasised the importance of good health and the recent cholera outbreak, linking it to bad drainage channels.
“I tell people climate change is real and there is a cholera outbreak. We must know that all these things are interwoven.
“We must all be responsible and responsive as a people. People cannot continue to brazenly abuse the environment and expect that there will be no consequences,” he said.
The commissioner said a 48-hour contravention notice has been served to owners of buildings lying within drainage channels at Sangotedo by Lagos Business School.
He added that the state will commence full enforcement of the law after the expiration of all notices.
At Sangotedo by Lagos Business School, the Commissioner said, “A 48-hour contravention notice has been served to owners of buildings lying within the channels and 14 days abatement and when that elapses the law will take its course.
“We will commence full enforcement after the expiration of all notices, with an option of voluntary compliance.
“Lagos despite its peculiarities as a coastal state with low-lying terrains and a high population density among others has remained afloat because of various measures put in place by the government.”
