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The Ondo State government has warned religious
organisations to desist from indiscriminate use of public address
systems or face stiff penalties.

The state commissioner for environment, Omolebi
Adepiti, gave the warning at a one-day interactive session with leaders
of religious groups, organised by the state chapter of the National
Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), in
Akure.

He said government would not hesitate to take
disciplinary action against any religion organisation which flaunts the
directive, once the ministry ends it campaign in December.

He noted that noise pollution in the state used to
be insignificant, “but with increase in our population now, it has
become a great nuisance.The state government decided to take such
action due to series of complaints received from the members of public
on a daily basis about people using industrial generators in
residential areas, without consideration for other people in the
neighbourhood,” he said.

“As government, we cannot continue to close our
ears to the complaints of the public and we are seriously working
towards addressing the issue.”

Review the laws

He lauded NESREA for its initiative in putting up
the campaign, stressing that the state government was also considering
holding a similar stakeholders’ meeting on various pollution issues.

“After the ministry has sensitised and educated
the public adequately, it will have no choice than to enforce the
provision of the law guiding noise pollution,” he said.

“Before the end of this year, we would have
completed the sensitisation and would surely be enforcing it.
Environmental laws in Ondo State is currently under review and I can
assure you that there is penalty for violators of this law.”

The Director General of NESREA, Ngeri Benebo, said the vision of the
agency was to ensure cleaner and healthier environments for Nigerians
and assured participants that the agency would continue to maintain
strong and credible enforcement activities in the country.