The Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, LASEPA, has expressed its readiness to work with the Lagos State University, Ojo, through its Centre for Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development, (CESSD), to commence research activities for environmental sustainability and sociological development.
The General Manager, LASEPA, Dr. Dolapo Fasawe observed that a partnership of the two institutions will boost the activities of the agency in combating the menace of Global Climate Change and proactively support the State’s environmental policies.
She disclosed this while receiving the management and top officials of the institution led by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun and the Director of Centre for Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development, LASU, Prof. Adeola Animashaun, who were on a courtesy visit to LASEPA on Friday.
Fasawe, who commended the initiative of the University in partnering with the agency, described it as a welcome development, adding that LASEPA was already working with the World Bank to provide air monitoring stations to generate data for policymaking and global warming indices of the State.
She explained how the agency was able to encourage and persuade some industries in the State to switch to gas energy generation rather than the normal diesel and petrol as a way of protecting the environment from further degradation.
The General Manager informed that the agency is also partnering the Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) to help the transportation sector reduce carbon emission by switching to vehicles that run on gas, noting that about 50,000 vehicles in the State run on gas presently but there are plans to increase the number.
“We have been championing the reduction of plastic waste by banning single-use plastic bags in the agency with plans of extending it to other sectors. This move has reduced the solid waste the agency generates and indirectly saves cost”, she added.
In his response, the Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University, (LASU), Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun commended LASEPA for recognising the need to factor the social economy into policymaking by coming up with an alternative to single-use plastics/bags, adding that LASU will soon initiate policies to encourage students of the institution to join the train of using biodegradable bags.
He added that the University will provide support in terms of capacity building activities that would enable the agency to stay up to date with environmental trends globally, while soliciting private sector input in making environmental rules and regulations.
The VC highlighted some areas that could be explored by the University in support of the activities of the agency saying, “We want to work with LASEPA and come up with a toolkit that makes it easy to monitor the compliance level of industries. With this toolkit, private companies can audit themselves with the benchmark set by the agency”.
“It is a win-win situation if we make money in a healthy environment but a time bomb if it is made in an unstable and unhealthy environment”, he stated.
Fagbohun also revealed that, based on technological advances, the University plans to create an App that measures emission levels, deals with vehicular registration as well as measures the emission level of a vehicle per movement.
