LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT REFUNDS 145 FORMER SUBSCRIBERS OF EGAN HOUSING ESTATE
admin By Oyebola Owolabi
Development projects in Lagos State must henceforth pass the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) test before execution, the government has said.
Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, said this became necessary to ensure sustainable implementation of all developmental projects.
He stated this at a one-day stakeholders’ engagement with financial institutions and professional bodies, themed ‘Embracing Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) as a Critical Management and Sustainable Tool’. According to him, adopting the ESIA is necessary for all professionals in the built environment in line with global best practices.
The commissioner described EIA as a formal process for identifying the likely impacts that may arise from a proposed activity or project on the environment, human health and social economic activities.
Wahab, represented by the Permanent Secretary (Environmental Services), Dr. Tajudeen Gaji, noted that ESIA helps to identify likely adverse and beneficial impacts of a project, with the aim of putting in place measures to mitigate the adverse ones.
According to him, Lagos remains the preferred destination for businesses, ‘and this preference can be likened to a two sided coin which, on one hand, means Lagos is open to economic prosperity and growth, while the other hand comes with various types of environmental and social challenges.
He added: “The establishment of industrial facilities, creation of new settlements, and construction of infrastructure, all come with huge adverse environmental impacts ranging from to sometimes irreversible environmental degradation if not properly managed.
“The government cannot afford the huge cost of addressing environmental degradation and ecological challenges resulting from unwholesome project development activities. Doing the right thing is cheaper than remediating or correcting the consequences of refusing to do them.”
He stated that the workshop is designed to bring together all financial institutions and professional bodies in the built environment to discuss the critical role of EIA in their collective stride towards sustainable development in the state.
The Guest Lecturer, Prof. Babajide Alo, said ESIA must be executed thoroughly according to the screening, scoping, preparing an ESIA report, publication consultation, decision making and post decision making stages.
He also identified the objectives of ESIA to include identifying, predicting, evaluating environmental economic, social impacts of development activities, among others.
