Noise Pollution: Lagos Seals off 70 Churches and 20 Mosques

In its bid to sanitize the environment and curb the menace of noise pollution, Lagos State on Wednesday shutdown 70 churches, 20 mosques and about 11 hotels, club houses and pubs, Leadership reports.
Bola Shabi, the General Manager, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), said the decision was in keeping with the state government’s stand on zero tolerance for noise pollution.
“Precisely about 70 churches, 20 mosques and about 11 hotels, club houses and beer parlours were shut and we’ve given them some directives to follow. We have been so strict now that we are not going to even allow make-shift churches in the state any longer,” he said.
“What I mean by make-shift: using tents and uncompleted building, we are not going to allow that any further in the state.
“But I will strongly tell you that the level of compliance is more on the mosque area, because immediately you shut them, they instantly bring down their speakers or reduce the noise they make.’’
Shabi further stated that LASEPA aims to curb noise pollution in the state to 70 per cent and to zero per cent by the year 2020.
“As at today, we are only able to reduce the noise level to about 35 per cent. That is not a pass mark yet. So, until we reach that target of 70 to 80 per cent, we will continue the enforcement.
“Enforcement is a continuous exercise and we have set a target for ourselves. We want to ensure that Lagos is noise-free by the year 2020. With our status as a mega city, by year 2020 we will be free of noise.”
It will be recalled that former Governor Babatunde Fashola had in 2010 issued a directive that all religious centres should remove their external speakers as they were unnecessary and constituted noise pollution