Given the strategic and central role of Lagos as a melting point for people of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, in the lives of a lot of Nigerians and foreigners alike, it will be unacceptable to think that Lagos would degenerate to a point where anything goes and where lawlessness would be the order of the day.
With the increasing population of the state, which grows alarmingly, on a daily basis, it’s imperative that law and order must prevail for there to be meaningful and tangible development and growth. Anything to the contrary would be a recipe for disaster.
For those who have stayed in Lagos for some time, it is sad to see how lawlessness and indiscipline seem to be so prevalent that you wonder where the state will be in the near future if the dangerous trends are allowed to subsist.
Successive governors must be commended for the task of securing the state. Securing a state like Lagos cannot be easy like Sunday morning. It takes a lot, both financially and otherwise, to maintain law and order in Lagos. The incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has done remarkably well in this regard. Little wonder the state recently celebrated about four years of no bank robbery incident.
But there is still work to be done to further bring back sanity to Lagos.
While the state government is chasing robbers and other felons who hitherto were operating almost without restraints, it must also not lose sight of the fact that several lawbreakers are extorting people at every bus stop and damaging vehicles of those who refuse to part with money, whether commercial or private. There are those who are building where they are not authorised or are grabbing land and selling to people to build churches or hotels, sorry brothels. Everywhere you go now in Lagos, people are either putting up churches or building brothels where people of questionable characters go to hide from the law.
How do you invite investors to a city where lawlessness and disorderliness are prevalent?
Granted that the state government may have made some efforts to address some of these problems by promulgating laws to check the activities of these criminals, however, it is rather unfortunate that some of these laws are hardly enforced thereby giving these offenders the leeway to continue in their activities.
Sometime in 2010, the Lagos State government under Babatunde Fashola had ordered all churches in Lagos, to immediately remove all external speakers from their churches as they constitute noise pollution to the society.
The order was a sequel to a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, signed by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Lagos State Branch, and the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, LASEPA.
The state government viewed continued disobedience by churches to remove their external loudspeakers as uncalled for and therefore wants them to comply urgently before stricter measures would be adopted to abate the nuisance.
The MoU was signed by then LASEPA General Manager, Mr. Rasheed Shabi and the Director of Pollution Control Department, Mr. K.A. Fadairo, for the state government and Pastor J.A. Fatokun, Pastor Olawoyin Lawrence and Pastor Barnabas Otoibhi for Lagos State CAN.
However, about 14 years later, this law is openly not complied with. Has there been any punishment for those who broke this law? If the speakers are taken inside but the noise from inside is such that neighbours cannot sleep, is there any difference? Get to any major bus stop in Lagos and you find churches and mosques competing to outdo one another with their deafening megaphones blaring from all corners.
The greatest offenders are these fortune-seeking so-called men of God who are now converting any space available, be they garages, corridors, flats, shops, to places of worship. They all compete to hold crusades, revivals and vigils, preventing neighbours, who already have the eternal problems of lack electricity and heat to contend with, from sleeping.
Last week, the Lagos State Government said it would begin sealing residential buildings where churches, mosques and other religious gatherings are being illegally conducted after a 30 days removal notice.
The government said it had sent to operators of such religious entities, saying their actions were against the state’s masterplan, such that had brought discomfort on Lagos residents.
The state government said that similar notices were also sent to owners of lounges, clubhouses and bars who have also converted residential buildings across the state without approval for change of use.
According to the state government, the removal notice became imperative following security concerns of citizens and repeated complaints of non-adherence to safety and security guidelines issued to the club owners.
The Commissioner, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Lagos State, Tokunbo Wahab, confirmed that religious places, clubhouses, bars and lounges and others operating illegally under residential buildings would be sealed in coming days if their owners fail to return those buildings to their original residential purpose.
The state government indicated that its decision to clamp down on the identified entities turning residential into other use, was to ensure sanity return to nooks and crannies of the state and that its actions was sequel to the distortion of the master plan of Lagos, especially residential areas, by people who in gross disregard to the regulatory provisions of the law turned residential areas into clubhouses and worship centres thereby constituting a nuisance to the environment.
How far is the state government ready to go to enforce this law, I do not know, but what I know is that it is easy to tell in the coming days if they are serious or not. This problem is all over Lagos, but two of the most affected areas are Ikeja and Ajegunle-Apapa.
The state stands the risk of being accused of persecuting religious centres but they must pay no heed to such allegations. They should go all out to stop this dangerous trend so we can have sanity restored to Lagos.
