12th September, 2012
The Lagos State Government has ordered all home owners in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria to beautify the perimeter areas of their properties with flowers or face six months imprisonment.
This is as a result of the new Lagos State Parks and Garden bill which has already been passed by the State House of Assembly.
An agency that will implement the law, the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency, LASPARK, was inaugurated on Monday in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria to manage all the parks in Lagos and enforce the law.
Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello while inaugurating the LASPARK, said with the new law, “it is now mandatory for tenement/ owners and occupiers to landscape and beautify the perimeter areas of their properties, while violation of this law shall warrant the penalty of N250,000 or such sums as the State shall incur in doing same on behalf of the tenement, or six months imprisonment or other non-custodial sentence.”
Bello said all houses in the Lagos metropolis, no matter how small or congested must plant flowers in the perimeters of their houses or face the wrath of the law, saying that the government wanted Lagos to be as beautiful as Singapore.
According to Bello, “the law stipulates a fine not exceeding N50,000 or one year imprisonment or other non-custodial sentences for any person or corporate body found felling or trimming trees in the state without obtaining the required permit from LASPARK.”
The commissioner said LASPARK would be in charge of beautification and landscaping projects across the state, saying the agency was set up to foster sustainable environment and further enhance the aesthetics of the State.
Bello added that with the law, “it is an offence to walk on lawns and gardens instead of designated walkways; spitting, urinating or defecating in any area of the parks, gardens or opens spaces; loitering or soliciting for illegal purposes, smoking, distributing controlled substance or engaging in disorderly conduct; littering, polluting or dumping litter or refuse in any park or garden.
“Failure to control animals or allowing defecation; or engaging in unhygienic use of fountains, pools or water in the parks, gardens and open spaces, is also prohibited.”
Acting Permanent, Office of Environmental Services, Mrs Adebola Afun said 128 landscaped beautified sites and 14 parks had been handed over to the new agency to manage.
The new General Manager of LASPARK, Mr. Olukunle Sotade said the agency would strive to improve the aesthetics of the Lagos environment and collaborate with other sectors of the economy to actualise the Millennium Development Goal, MDG.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga