Controlling noise in Lagos

| credits: www.sdmags.net

OUR cities have become highly dissonant, no thanks to lack of urban planning and the inefficiency of municipal authorities in enforcing existing regulations and laws. The influx of people, who do not have proper values in urbanism, from the rural areas to cities, worsens this bedlam. Most city dwellers make life uncomfortable for their neighbours. From residences, bus stops, roads, churches, mosques, among other places, noise above the normal decibel oozes out, provoking people to anger, stress and, in some cases, litigation.

This widespread environmental pollution is most pervasive in Lagos State, despite the efforts of the state government to contain it. Once again, the state Commissioner for Environment, Tunji Bello, has threatened to embark on a massive closure of religious centres if the noise emanating from them continues unabated. He must not waste any more time before he takes tough action against them and other habitual noisemakers to set things right. The organisations and people responsible for such pollution must be brought to book.

Residents are exposed to serious health hazards as a result of noise pollution. Experts say noise, which is an unwanted sound, disturbs sleep, affects cognitive functions in children, causes physiological stress reactions and can lead to cardiovascular health problems, including artery disease (arteriosclerosis), high blood pressure and heart disease, for those exposed to it on a repeated, long-term basis. Annoyance is another major outcome of noise exposure. Late last month, two corporals were ejected from their apartments at Pedro Police Barracks, Somolu, Lagos, by an irritated Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the G Department, Abdulrahman Akano, who could not bear the din from a music set and a radio from their residences.

It is apparent that the police barracks noise saga abounds in every nook and cranny of our cities. Such cases might have led to numerous brawls or fisticuffs among neighbours. But the majority lack the courage to engage deviant neighbours in order to bring them to the path of reason; nor do the perpetrators appreciate the enormity of the health hazards their abnormal conduct poses to others.

Just like the DIG, Esther Ogunsalu, a 79-year-old woman, showed a righteous rage against her neighbour, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Abule Onigbagbo Estate branch, Ikeja, by taking its owners to court in March over noise pollution. She had told a Lagos court, presided over by Justice Aishat Opesanwo, “Their noise prevents me from sleeping and triggers my hypertensive heart disease.” While the matter was settled out of court, Ogunsalu’s action is a useful lesson in how to use the instrumentality of the law to deal with communal nuisance.

Many centres of worship in Lagos (churches and mosques) co-habit with residential areas; and are known to mount external loudspeakers on rooftops, which invariably make their neighbourhoods ill at ease. This was why officials of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, in May 2012, shut three churches and two mosques. The state House of Assembly had in June 2009 enacted a law that prohibits religious organisations from using external loudspeakers during worship while limiting the noise to nationally acceptable levels of 55 and 45 decibels for day and night programmes, respectively. Music soundproof systems are required too. Music shop owners are also covered by the legislation. Lamentably, the law is being observed in the breach.

It is exasperating to hear the needless honking of car or truck horns, or sirens from endless convoys of VIP vehicles creating a sense of pandemonium on our roads. The use of caravans of cars by public officials and other influence inebriated individuals is an added malady. Some major cities of the world have devised ingenuous ways of decongesting their roads with efficient public transport systems and making it extremely expensive for individuals to put their cars on the road. For instance, in Tokyo, Japan, it could be five times costlier to drive cars than commute in train. Youths who sell pirated musical albums at bus termini and markets here still use their huge juke boxes to amplify the sound. Streets are regularly closed for musical jamborees or parties, while undeveloped plots of land are easily converted to mechanic workshops. The tumult associated with this is provocative. Local government officials don’t care.

At night, the buzzing of generators from virtually every home as a result of chronic electricity failure from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, denies our cities the glaze of a metropolis. Many cannot sleep on account of the noise pollution. With power generation dropping by 1,112 megawatts due to system failure, the headache from this source can only worsen.

Noise pollution must be considered a serious offence and places of worship and vehicle users should act in compliance with the relevant regulations. What the Lagos situation requires, therefore, is strict enforcement of its laws on noise pollution until every resident is sensitised enough to be a campaigner against it. The madness is petrifying. A health concern that affects about 18 million people should not be trifled with.