Environmental Sustainability: Lagos Govt To Reward Complaint Industries

To prevent pollution prevention, minimise indiscriminate industrial waste discharge and promote innovations that will aid sustainable environmental practices by industries for public safety, the Lagos State government has disclosed that it is set to organise an industrial pollution abatement award ceremony among sectors in the state.

The general manager of Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Dr Tunde Ajayi, who disclosed this yesterday at a press conference held in Alausa, Lagos explained that the Year 2024 the Lagos Industrial Pollution Abatement Award (LIPAA) award is aimed at encouraging industries, especially manufacturing organisations to implement pollution prevention measures and stop the practice of discharging untreated waste (liquid or gaseous) directly into the environment or water bodies for public safety and the ecosystem.

According to him, the Cleanest Award ceremony, also known as the Lagos Industrial Pollution Abatement Award, is scheduled on Tuesday, November 26th, 2024, in Lagos.

Ajayi said the award would also encourage industries operating in the state to prioritise cleanliness and public safety in their operations, thereby ensuring more compliance with government standard regulations on pollution control, industrial waste management and effluent discharge to protect the environment and the general public.

He disclosed that the initiative was conceived when the agency’s routine industrial inspection revealed that several industrial organisations operating in the state were mostly operating without pollution abatement plants in place, thereby discharging their untreated waste (liquid or gaseous) directly into the environment/water bodies.

“Also, some of those organisations with existing treatment plants have packed them up for one technical problem or another, thereby discharging raw effluent and air pollutants into the environment against the standard manufacturing regulations.

“It is against this background that LASEPA, as an Environmental Regulator charged with protecting the environment in the State, is organising this industrial pollution abatement award among our industries to encourage them to implement pollution prevention measures and comply with the standard environmental practices.

“We want to ensure that all our manufacturing organisations have perfect and efficient pollution abatement and effluent treatment plants in place so that they don’t discharge their hazardous wastes into the environment or water bodies for public safety and the ecosystem,” he stated.