NESREA urges prompt report of noise pollution cases

Noise pollution

Published By: Isa Isawade

The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has called on Nigerians to promptly report noise pollution and other environmental violations to the agency.

Dr Innocent Barikor, the Director-General, NESREA, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

Barikor spoke through Mr Elijah Udofia, Director, Environmental Quality Control (EQC), NESREA.

The director-general also urged Nigerians to respect environmental laws and regulations in the country.

He said that the agency would not fail to take action against individuals or facilities that violated those laws.

Barikor said that the agency had received and responded to several complaints about noise pollution.

He said the complaints were mostly from faith-based organisations (Churches and Mosques), night clubs, social gardens, power-generating sets, musical shops, among others, within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and other states of the federation.

“These complaints received were investigated and resolved.’’

He said that the National Environmental (Noise Standards and Control) Regulations, 2009 prescribed the maximum permissible noise levels in a facility or activity to which a person might be exposed.

“Regulation 5(1) states that “No person shall emit or cause to be emitted, or permit the emission of noise resulting from any action or activity specified in sub-regulation (2) of this regulation if that noise is a disturbance to the receptor or in the neighbourhood for more than two minutes or is within the prohibited time in a residential area or Noise Control Zone as determined by the agency in consultation with state and local governments.’’

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Barikor said that regulations 5 (1) and (2) (a) addressed noise pollution caused by the use of power bikes at night.

He said that the regulations equally addressed noise from other forms like in the place of worship, marketplaces, sales and promotion with the use of a public address system, among others.

Barikor said that facilities that were guilty of non-compliance had been sanctioned as provided in the National Environmental (Noise Standards and Control) Regulations 2009 after being served several notifications to abate noise pollution.

He said that to effectively carry out her mandate, the agency was enforcing the provisions of 35 National Environmental Regulations on various environmental issues.

“NESREA focuses her regulatory work on individuals or organisations whose activities pose a threat to the environment.

“Out of these regulations, one that is completely geared towards regulating the activities that lead to noise pollution is the National Environmental (Noise Standards and Control) Regulations 2009, amongst other provisions.

“The purpose of these regulations is to ensure that the citizenry has access to a quiet environment; these regulations have noise limits for places at different times.

“The regulations also call on individuals to report noise pollution complaints to the agency for swift intervention and abatement,’’ he said.

He added that in pursuit of the implementation of the National Environmental (Noise Standards and Control) Regulations, 2009, the agency embarked on sensitisation of the general public on the provisions of the regulations.