LAWMA solicits judiciary support to prosecute offenders
In order to stem the tide of illegal and indiscriminate dumping, violation of law and order as it pertained to waste management, among others, the Managing Director, Lagos State Waste Management Authority, (LAWMA) Mr Ibrahim Odumboni, has called for support from the Lagos State judiciary to prosecute offenders.
Odumboni, made the call at the Lagos High Court in Ikeja recently, describing the some of the illegal and indiscriminate dumping, violation of law and order by offenders of waste management as worrisome.
He noted that it was important to address these issues, adding that there was also need for legal backing.
The MD LAWMA said that due to the increasing population, Lagos presently generated over 14,000 metric tonnes of waste daily, while an individual generates 0.6kg minimum on a regular basis.
He explained that their visit to the Lagos High Court in Ikeja is to plead with the Ministry of Justice that these existing environmental laws should be implemented, and offenders prosecuted.
He highlighted that “The Environmental Protection Law of 2017 requires that every house should have a bin, but this is not enforced,
“Our team keeps working on sensitising the people through the media, radio jingoes, and the rest, but the people still violate and so the need for the enforcement of the law.”
The chief justice, represented by the Chief Registrar, Lagos State Judiciary, Mrs Bukola Okunuga, declared that the influx of people into the state could not be curbed, but measures must be put in place to protect the environment.
The Executive Secretary, Judicial Commission, Mrs Bukola Salami, mulled that there would have to be a synergy of all the stakeholders, LAWMA AWMN, the judiciary and the Judicial Service Commission to scrutinize these laws as it pertained to the proposed direction of enforcement being discussed and revert to the stakeholders.
The President, Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria, Mr David Oriyomi, opined that as the rainy season approached, Lagos being a coastal state was subject to flooding.
Oriyomi lamented that unfortunately people throw their refuse into the drainages without minding the consequences, stressing that they want to ensure that this does not happen this time around.
According to him, as private people, there is no way they can enforce the sanitation practices, despite discussions with LAWMA, and environmental officers, and absence of the judiciary.
He pointed out that they wrote to the Chief Judge of Lagos State to have this meeting, knowing full well that with the judiciary which is saddled with the responsibility of maintaining the law, they will be able to make headway.
The essence of the meeting, he said was to have collaboration between the judiciary and the executives as represented by LAWMA and the PSP operators in order to ensure that they had sanity during this coming rainy season.
