The headquarters
of the Lord's Chosen and
Charismatic Revival Church on
Ijesha, Oshodi-Apapa
Expressway, Lagos, were
sealed off by the Lagos State
Government over
environmental nuisance.

The Officials of the Ministry of
the Environment shut down the
Church in the morning of on
October 6, 2013, and prevented
the worshippers from having
their Sunday service usually
attended by thousands of
faithful.

Investigations revealed that the
Church does not have solid
waste disposal facility. It burns
its waste inside the Church
premises, thereby exposing
the lives of its worshippers to
serious health hazard.
A substantial part of the
sprawling Church lies on the
Odo Asimawu Canal drainage
channel, thereby impeding the
flow of storm water.
The Church also built its toilets
on the canal, thereby
discharging all its human waste
into the canal.

In order prevent an outbreak
of epidemic, the state
government had to seal the
entire Church premises.
The government accused the
Church of defacing and
degrading the environment and
refusing to abate the nuisance
even after it had been served
abatement notice to upgrade
the environment.
Mr. Tunji Bello, the Commissioner
for the Environment, said the
Church had committed lots of
environmental abuse which it
must abate before the massive
edifice could be re-opened by
the government as such illegality
could not be tolerated any
longer.

According to him, the Church
did not have proper waste
management system, adding
that it burnt its refuse inside
the Church, an action which ran
fowl of the environmental and
sanitation law of the state.
"The Church does not have
proper sanitary system and
they discharge their wastes
into the canal. Most of their
members trade on the
expressway and we don't want
that," the Commissioner stated.
Mr. Bello added that the Church
would only be re-opened if it
constructed new toilets as well
as bagged its solid waste as well
as managed such waste
properly, saying that the Church
must build a sewage septic tank
for the treatment of waste
water. He also assured that the
state government would not
shirk its responsibility of
protecting Lagos environment
and ensure that its residents
were protected from
environmental abuse.

The Commissioner stated that
the Church must also ensure that
none of its members trade on
the expressway, while the
Church must remove illegal
attachments built on drainage
channel alignment in the area.
He said any structure to be
erected by the Church must be
about 50 metres away from the
drainage channel and ensure
that the environment was kept
clean, after which the
government would re-open the
Church.
Reporters who visited the
Church in the morning of
October 8 noticed many
members of the Church who
were working frantically to clean
up their environment. Massive
demolition of structures built on
drainage alignment has also
started.
It was not possible to get
direct comments from
Churches' officials as they were
not authorized by the Pastor
for giving interviews.
The Lord's Chosen is founded by
Pastor Lazarus Muoka, who
serves as the General Overseer
of the Church.

www.naij.com/news/49180.html

Why na

Am a christian bt i say gud move by lsg. Meanwhyl i wonda if such kn be done 2 any mosque culpable. Atleast nt in d north whr am frm