The Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has warned Lagos residents not to use empty buildings as garbage dumps.
The warning was issued in a statement on Saturday in Lagos by Mr. Ibrahim Odumboni, the managing director and CEO of LAWMA.
The conduct, which involves using rubbish to restore land for future uses, is unlawful, according to Odumboni, and constitutes an environmental offence.
He said that the violations are punished by taking all of the property in question and bringing the people who committed them to court.
“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 the 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,” Odumboni said.
The LAWMA Chief further recommended those engaged in trash recycling to conduct their operations in secure areas free from environmental annoyance or attracting careless rubbish dumping by bystanders.
“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.
Odumboni said that LAWMA collaborated with a number of governmental organisations, including the MVAA and Neighbourhood Watch, to follow the movement of rubbish and capture criminals using timestamp cameras everywhere in the state.
The prosecution of tenements without trash bins will start in January 2023, he added, noting that the simple solution was for people to buy garbage bins for their properties and use the designated PSP operators.
