Noise Pollution: Govt threatens to close down Mosques, Churches

In a bid to control noise pollution, the Lagos State Government has said it will not hesitate to close down any mosque, church, night clubs and others, which constitute environmental nuisance.

Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello, in a statement, yesterday stated that the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) had been mandated to apply the full weight of the law.

He said the action became imperative because his office had been inundated with complaints and petitions from many residents and associations all over the state about the noise levels of many of the leisure centres and religious homes.

Bello, who added that on a continuous basis, LASEPA officials will be going round religious centres, homes and others, warned that anyone found to have exceeded the allowed level of sound output will be closed down and the appropriate sanctions applied.

The commissioner also lamented that his office had also discovered many leisure centres/religious homes that contravened, after being reopened by the government, usually go back to the same noise pollution for which they were earlier axed,

While disclosing that resident associations have been involved in the control of noise pollution in the state, he added that any shut centre, will not be reopened without a letter of guarantee from the residents association of such an area.

He advised religious and leisure centres to procure sound proof equipment which would lessen the sound that emanate from them.

Bello said the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu will not allow any business concern to put the well being of residents at peril for whatever reason.