Barely 72 hours after sealing some hotels and religious houses within Lagos metropolis, the Lagos State government, through the State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), on Tuesday, shut another set of religious houses, industries, club houses and others for contravening the guidelines on noise, air and environmental pollution.

Disclosing this on Tuesday, the General Manager LASEPA, Engineer Ademola Shabi, said 40 religious outfits were shut in the past two days of enforcement.

He added that 10 factories, night clubs and other business outfits were sealed by the agency to return sanity to the environment.

"If we do this for another six months, the level of non-compliance will reduce," he said.

Shabi lamented that the agency had received thousands of complaints from residents over the increased noise pollution, adding: "When one is exposed to noise level about 150 percent decibel for 6 hours, such exposure could lead to deafness.

"At industrial areas, noise level is meant to be at 90 decibel in the day and 80 decibel at night. In areas where we called mixed (residential and industrial), during the day, the noise pollution is expected to be at 65 decibel and at night 55 decibel.”

He debunked allegations in some quarters that there was sentiment attached to the sealing of the religious houses, stressing: "Shutting religious houses is not to witch-hunt, but to correct the anomalies in the society.

“On the religious houses that we shut for contravening the law, we do not ask them to pay fines, but they are mandated to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government, stating that they will comply with the laws."

Speaking about Hardley Apartments in Victoria Island, a hotel owned by former Nigerian football captain Kanu Nwankwo, sealed by the agency for flouting the environmental laws, Shabi said the agency would not re-open the facility until the management complied with the requirements.