Court revokes ban on movement during environmental sanitation

A federal high court in Lagos has nullified the restriction of movement of citizens during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in the state.

Describing the restriction as a violation of the right of citizen to personal liberty and freedom of movement, Ibrahim Idris, the judge, ruled against the arrest of citizens moving between 7am and 10am on the last Saturday of every month.

Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a human rights activist and lawyer, had earlier filed a suit seeking to stop the restriction on the ground that there is currently no law in force in the state restricting movement of persons for the purpose of observing environmental sanitation.

The defendants in the suit were inspector-general of police, the state commissioner of police, the governor, attorney-general of the state, commissioner for environment and the ministry of environment.

While arguing the matter, Adegboruwa submitted that Section 39 of the environmental sanitation law 2000 of Lagos State, which the respondents claimed to empower the commissioner for the environment to make regulations, could not be the basis of restricting human movement on Saturdays, as no regulation in force had indeed been made for that purpose.

He challenged the Lagos state government to produce such regulation before the court.

The lawyer further urged the court to hold that even if there was such regulation in force, it could not be enforced on roads designated as federal highways under the highways act, such as the third mainland bridge where he was arrested by the police and officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA).

He said that since the federal roads were built and maintained by the federal government, the state government lacked the authority over federal roads in Lagos.

Adegboruwa argued that having privatised and commercialise waste management in Lagos by making people to pay for waste disposal, the state government lacked the right to turn around to restrict human movement for environmental sanitation.