Lagos govt seals NBC, FrieslandCampina, Guinness over extraction of groundwater
The Lagos State government has sealed three companies for extracting large quantities of groundwater for commercial purposes without approval.
The companies are Nigerian Bottling Company, producers of Coca-Cola, FrieslandCampina, makers of Peak Milk, and Guinness Nigeria Plc.
The Director of Technical Services, Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission (LASWARCO), Mr. Olowu Babatunde, disclosed this during an enforcement exercise on Tuesday in Lagos.
He said LASWARCO had been engaging with the companies for over seven years to encourage compliance but efforts have been met with limited success.
The director said: “We operate a law that empowers us to regulate most of these heavy abstractors in Lagos State.
“Abstractors are individuals or entities that extract large quantities of groundwater for commercial purposes.
“So, these companies that we have sealed, basically three of them – Coca-Cola, FreislandCampina and Guinness, abstract water in large quantities.
“And we have been engaging them over time. At least, I have been here for more than seven years now. We have been engaging these companies for more than seven years now.
“Some, either they do partial compliance, or some don’t comply at all. So, now that we started implementation of our regulation, we now compel them to fulfill all their regulatory demands.”
The enforcement was a follow-up of a news briefing on unregulated groundwater abstraction by the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, held on Monday.
Wahab said the Environmental Management Protection Law 2017 empowered LASWARCO to regulate groundwater activities and impose penalties for unauthorised abstraction.
Lagos govt seals NBC, FrieslandCampina, Guinness over extraction of groundwater
The Lagos State government has sealed three companies for extracting large quantities of groundwater for commercial purposes without approval.
The companies are Nigerian Bottling Company, producers of Coca-Cola, FrieslandCampina, makers of Peak Milk, and Guinness Nigeria Plc.
The Director of Technical Services, Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission (LASWARCO), Mr. Olowu Babatunde, disclosed this during an enforcement exercise on Tuesday in Lagos.
He said LASWARCO had been engaging with the companies for over seven years to encourage compliance but efforts have been met with limited success.
The director said: “We operate a law that empowers us to regulate most of these heavy abstractors in Lagos State.
“Abstractors are individuals or entities that extract large quantities of groundwater for commercial purposes.
“So, these companies that we have sealed, basically three of them – Coca-Cola, FreislandCampina and Guinness, abstract water in large quantities.
“And we have been engaging them over time. At least, I have been here for more than seven years now. We have been engaging these companies for more than seven years now.
“Some, either they do partial compliance, or some don’t comply at all. So, now that we started implementation of our regulation, we now compel them to fulfill all their regulatory demands.”
The enforcement was a follow-up of a news briefing on unregulated groundwater abstraction by the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, held on Monday.
Wahab said the Environmental Management Protection Law 2017 empowered LASWARCO to regulate groundwater activities and impose penalties for unauthorised abstraction.
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