By Alaba Ajibade, Lagos – The Lagos State Government, Wednesday shut down 53 churches, mosques and hotels over noise pollution and environmental nuisance.
General Manager, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, LASEPA, Adebola Shabi,
said the action followed series of complaints and petitions from residents and neighbours of the affected premises.
Officials of the agency stormed the worship centres shut them down.
Mr. Shabi said some of the worship centres converted residential apartments to places of worship thereby constituting nuisance to the neighbourhood.
He said in recent times, most of the petitions kept coming back to government as if the government was not working.
He explained that some of the affected facilities had been served abatement notices before their eventual closure, adding that the growing rate of worship centres in the state calls for serious regulations, especially in the areas of noise pollution.
He said some of the worship centres polluting the neighbourhood with noise were usually makeshift structures that do not have government approval.
“You cannot have makeshift structure and say you want to be conducting services or night vigil there. Definitely, you will be disturbing your neighbours. So, the government won’t allow the use of makeshift as a church or mosque, Shabi said.
Adding that, “Nobody is allowed to make noise above 55 decibel during the day in the residential area and only 45 decibel is allowed in such area at night. In the industrial areas, 90 decibel of noise is allowed during the day while the noise rate must not exceed 80 decibel at night in such areas.
