Lagos elites to blame for flooding, others, says LASEPA

AS Lagos continue to bear the brunt of the consequence of the raining season, the authorities have blamed wealthy residents’ lackadaisical attitude for flooding and other environmental abuses.

General Manager of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA),Rasheed Shabbi, an engineer, made the submission at the commemoration of the World Environment Day, organized by Ecologistics Integrated Services Limited on Victoria Island, Lagos.

Shabbi decried the non-compliance to directives on waste disposal, negligence to government policies on environmental management and refusal, by the wealthy Lagosians, to pay for services of waste management consultants.

He stressed that Nigerians are not doing enough to protect the environment, calling for strict compliance with government policies and a more collaborative, proactive approach to the environmental sustainability.

He said: “Lagosians are responsible for the flooding in the state because of their penchant to dispose waste indiscriminately. We forget that it was the waste that was thrown out of the window the other day that has accumulated to clog the drainages; the nylon and wrappers are dangerous to the environment. We should love the environment, as what we make of it today determines what our children would meet in future.

“The rich ones are the ones destroying the environment. Those in Mushin pay their rates; but those in Victoria Island, who feel they can speak grammar, would ask what government is doing for them as excuse not to pay. Government policies in the state are initiated to make life easy for everyone. When Lagosians complain of government policies, they do so not remembering that such policies are in tandem with what is obtainable globally.”

President, Ecologistics Integrated Service Limited, Dr. Paul Abolo, in his remarks, reiterated the need to care more intimately about the environment, noting that the responsibility extends even far beyond picking up dirt on the streets, but making judicious use of stationeries, used books, clothes and caring for the wellbeing of fellow human.

He said that the environment was crying out in various voices, which calls for action both on the corporate and individual levels, adding “governments must take decisive actions in terms of strict compliance with regulations on environmental sustainability; companies must freely follow laid down rules and individuals should imbibe attitudes and actions that reinforce the goal of sustainable environment.”

According to him, “the first step to sustaining the environment begins with how we handle the books we read. We need to read books with the consciousness that we would be passing it off to someone else after we are done. Also, in office, we need people to know that it is right and environmentally friendly to print on both sides of a paper. Our cloths, too, shouldn’t be disposed without minding where it eventually ends up.