A Magistrate Court sitting in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State has sentenced 26 people to community service for indiscriminate dumping of waste in different parts of the state.
Chronicle NG reports that 29 people were earlier sentenced to fines and community service by a magistrate’s court in Oshodi for engaging in indiscriminate waste disposal at different locations in the metropolis.
The Environmental Special Offences Court in Lagos State, presided over by Magistrate Mcdavies Amore, also issued a $30,000 fine per individual or the option of community service to the 26 people convicted for careless trash disposal across several places in the state.
The environmental offenders were apprehended by the Lagos Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, in collaboration with the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps, LAGESC, at various locations across the state between 9.30 p.m. and 7 a.m. while disposing of their refuse in unauthorized places.
In response to the judgement, LAWMA Managing Director, Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin, stated that the authority’s current joint enforcement operation had been escalated in accordance with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s zero-tolerance policy.
“The era of recklessness and disdain for the environment is over. Anyone caught under whatever guise will be made to face the wrath of the law. The exercise is a continuous one,” he said.
Gbadegesin advised residents to help environmental efforts by avoiding reckless garbage disposal, having waste receptacles at home, and supporting only accredited private sector participants, or PSP operators, warning that defaulters would have no place to hide.
