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| MD/CEO of LAWMA, Ibrahim Odumboni; waste dump |
The Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has urged citizens against using vacant buildings as garbage dumps in the city.
The warning was issued in a statement on Saturday in Lagos by LAWMA's managing director and CEO, Ibrahim Odumboni.
The act, according to Mr. Odumboni, is prohibited and constitutes environmental offences. It also includes the utilisation of garbage to reclaim land for future uses.
He claims that violators will be prosecuted and that the property would be completely forfeited as punishment for the offences.
“LAWMA is issuing a strong warning that people should stop dumping refuse in abandoned properties. They should also desist from using waste to reclaim lands for the purpose of building houses.
“Anyone caught in those illegal practices will be made to face the wrath of the law, while such property will be instantly confiscated by government.
“We have said this many times but some residents are adamant. I am restating again that anyone caught in the act will be prosecuted.
“Our enforcement teams have been effectively mobilised to do the needful in this regard,” Mr Odumboni said.
The LAWMA chief also advised those involved in waste recycling to do their business in secured spaces that would not constitute environmental nuisance or attract reckless waste dumping by passers-by.
“A situation where people who don’t want to pay for PSP services, hide under the guise of recycling to dump their waste and discarded materials at uncompleted and abandoned buildings, will not be tolerated by the Authority.
“This nefarious act has turned such locations into breeding grounds for not only pests and diseases but also criminals,” he said.
Mr Odumboni said that LAWMA had worked in collaboration with several government agencies, including the MVAA and Neighbourhood Watch, to track waste migration and apprehend offenders, through timestamp cameras, in any part of the state.
He noted that the easy way out was for residents to acquire waste bins for their property and patronise assigned PSP operators, adding that the prosecution of tenements without waste bins would begin in January 2023.
(NAN)