Fashola, we are dying of noise pollution

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Dear Sir, I hope this appeal meets you in good health. As you wind down on the final year of your administration, I have decided to draw your attention to one of the challenges that make Lagos one of the most hazardous places to live in the world. The menace of noise pollution in this city is one issue I believe your administration must pay close attention to beyond the current half-hearted approach of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of the Environment.

The danger of a scourge that has made Lagos to be lowly ranked on the Liveable City Index certainly demands a more aggressive approach. As you would have noticed in my introduction, my concern was to first ask after your health condition. This is because I believe that since you live among us, you are also affected by the chaos this city has become. I know that as you go about your official duties, you are also not immune from the nuisance of noise pollution.

My concern has become necessary due to the danger noise pollution poses to residents. Personally, as a resident living in Lagos, it has become a nightmare. Our health is suffering due to the bedlam our city has become. It is my hope that with your renewed intervention, next one year will bring vigour and new approach in ensuring compliance to the laws that regulate noise in the city.

Dear Sir, I want you to consider this appeal as a Save our Soul message by all residents who are daily grappling with the health hazards of noise which according to the World Health Organisation can lead to aggressive behaviour, crime, sudden death and other life-threatening ailments.

Noise pollution has also impacted on the global perspective of Lagos. In recent years, this city has consistently been rated poorly by the Economic Intelligent Unit in its global livable cities rankings. This EIU ranking has often placed Lagos as one of the worst places to live in the world. In the last few years, Lagos has been rated as a city with the worst quality of life for its inhabitants. In February for example, the EUI Livable Cities Index categorised Lagos as the 4th worst place to live on earth. This city has failed to meet the global standards for livable cities. This has consistently placed it at an awkward position in the EIU index. Dear Sir, even you will have to admit that Lagos is one of the noisiest cities in the world. This to me is no exaggeration. It is also not an attempt to belittle your achievements. But environmental hazards such as noise pollution are the reasons Lagos continued to be rated abysmally. Environmental factors such as noise pollution have contributed to the low ranking.

Everywhere one turns in this city, there is no respite from noise pollution. There is bedlam everywhere. Noise pollution in Lagos has assumed a frightening level. This must never be allowed to degenerate any further. I am aware that the state has enacted environmental laws that are supposed to protect residents from the health impacting practices of a few. But what I see as a drawback is the implementation and execution of these laws. This is one area you will have to look into. I expect that your response will be to beam the searchlight on the performance of LASEPA. But on the matter of noise pollution, I believe the agency is not doing enough. It has to be alive to its responsibilities.

Apart from the generators’ noise occasioned by the inefficiency of the electricity companies, which have inherited the inefficiency of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, LASEPA seems to have lost the control of other sources of noise pollution. Perhaps, one of the greatest sources of noise pollution is the disturbing activities of places of worship. Churches and mosques have continued to act in breach of the state’s environmental laws. Residents have complained about the activities of religious organisations to no end. Loudspeakers are placed outside churches and mosques to disturb the peace of the neighbours.

The state House of Assembly had in 2009 enacted a law that set the acceptable noise levels in Lagos at 55 and 45 decibels for day and night, respectively. The law also prohibits religious organisations from using external loudspeakers during worship. According to the law, the early morning service should not commence before 7a.m. and midweek services should not exceed 9 p.m. and should be conducted without musical instruments. Music soundproof systems are required and shop owners who often play loud music are also covered by the legislation. Besides, the International Financial Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency noise thresholds are 55 decibels for residential areas and 70 decibels for industrial and commercial places.

These noise level restrictions are meant to create a decent and healthy environment for all residents. Sadly, the law is not being obeyed by the residents. Enforcement by the authorities has been inadequate. Daily, high-decibel songs blare endlessly from shops along busy streets. Churches and mosques make things even worse with their loudspeakers erected right on rooftops in residential areas. While noise from mosques often wakes us rudely early in the morning, church services, their crusades, vigils and deliverance programmes often keep us awake late into the night. The honking of car or truck horns and sirens from endless convoys of government officials have also made Lagos a very unhealthy place to live in. Noise disrupts the tranquility of the environment and affects climate and human health negatively. It plays a key role in many illnesses, including heart diseases.

Lagos cannot continue like this. The law has to be enforced for some sanity and decency to return. Noise may be the root cause of around three deaths in every hundred traditionally blamed on heart disease according to a study that suggests many thousands of people may be dying because of lack of peace and quiet. More people than ever are now complaining about unwanted noise pollution – from rowdy neighbours, street vendors and loud traffic to late-night parties, pubs and clubs. A groundbreaking research from the WHO has provided estimates of the impact of noise revealing a striking contribution of noise to premature deaths. The findings further suggest that long-term exposure to noise pollution such as traffic noise may account for three per cent of deaths from heart disease – typically strokes and heart attacks. Noise health effects are the health consequences of elevated sound levels. Elevated noise can cause hearing impairment, hypertension, annoyance, and sleep disturbance. Beyond these effects, elevated noise levels can create stress and stimulate aggression and other anti-social behaviours.

However, one way to enforce the state environmental laws will be for LASEPA and the ministry to enforce compliance through the strengthening of the task force on noise pollution. Owners of music stores who raise music above regulated decibels should be arrested and fined heavily. LASEPA should start an awareness campaign on the dangers of noise pollution. Religious organisations that disturb the peace of residents must be sanctioned. Above all, Sir, do not think you are governing a healthy state when everywhere is very noisy and everywhere stressed and choking under noise pollution.