Law and the mountainous filth of Lagos

There is a silent war brewing in Lagos State. It is the war of filth. Last week, the state government announced the resumption of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise programme which was suspended about a decade ago. Last Saturday, the state Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, announced that the exercise would resume officially on April 25. It will involve residents cleaning their surroundings, clearing drainage channels by their homes and properly disposing their wastes, with the aim of improving environmental hygiene and tackling persistent waste.

However, that statement was met by a war of legalese. Highly respected human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has criticized the plan to reintroduce the environmental exercise. In a statement he issued, Falana condemned the policy as a relic of military era with no basis in a democratic society governed by the rule of law. He called it unjustifiable.

The case of a Lagos resident, Faith Okafor, arrested in 2013 for alleged violation of restriction of movement of the environmental sanitation exercise, is cited to buttress the triumph of law over reason. Today, that matter is subsisting, with an Appeal Court judgement in Okafor’s favour. It was learned that the matter is currently at the Supreme Court. It is Falana’s candid view that, “The Lagos State Government should not reintroduce the monthly sanitation exercise as it is highly contemptuous of the Court of Appeal”.

From the point of law, Falana cannot be controverted. Restraining a people’s movement is a curtailment of their fundamental rights of movement. However, the Lagos State government is faced with a huge and daunting task of mountainous filth and a culture of impunity, coupled with lackadaisical attitude to waste. The choice before it is to allow filth to decorate the streets while allowing an observance of cleanliness in abeyance. It is apparent that the people cannot be allowed to determine what is right by themselves or else maggots will fill the stratosphere.

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It is general knowledge that law is made for man and not otherwise. I urge the Lagos State government to continue to appeal to the conscience of the legal school of thought on the filth republic that Lagos is turning into. Confrontation cannot do it. Methinks we should incinerate legalese while seeking to clean Lagos up. A sound policy aimed at ridding Lagos of human wastes should not be killed by the law.