Lagos State Government has warned against indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the extensive city, pointing out that it has strengthened its environmental enforcement law to deal with environmental offenders across the state.

 Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, disclosed this during ministerial briefing of his ministry to mark the third year of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration in the state.

He said the operatives of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps, LAGESC, arrested 2,097 environmental offenders, comprising illegal street traders, hawkers, highway pedestrian defaulters, environmental nuisance polluters and cart-pushers.

 According to him, 136 offenders were engaged in communal service across the metropolis while others were arraigned for prosecution in line with the law at the Samuel Ilori Court, Ogba and Special Offences Mobile Court, Oshodi.

Durosinmi-Etti who noted that Lagos had strengthened its regulatory agencies to enforce compliance to standard and regulations, and curb all unsanitary behaviors by applying the required penalties, said monitoring, enforcement and compliance activities of the ministry and its agencies had improved in terms of environmental sustainability.

“We know that our population is increasing as available statistics indicate that 85 people enter Lagos every hour and very few of them go back, and as more people come in, the waste generated in the state is also increasing but we are working to put the right infrastructure and equipment in place to address waste management.”

 “However, one thing I can assure the people is that we are working and in another one month before the rainy season, it will be over. We know that the rainy season is fast approaching and we are also preparing but I like to assure that soon, the challenges will be surmounted,” Durosinmi-Etti said.

 He said 13,958 Community Sanitation Workers CSW, have so far been employed to sweep inner streets in the 377 political wards in the State, with recruitment exercise still ongoing.