Why Lagos gov’t shut down The Lord’s Chosen and Charismatic Revival Church

The Lagos State Government has shut down the
headquarters of the Lord's Chosen and
Charismatic Revival Church on Ijesha,
Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lagos, southwest
Nigeria over environmental nuisance.

The Lord's Chosen is founded by Pastor
Lazarus Muoka, who serves as the General
Overseer of the church.

Officials of the Ministry of the Environment
shut down the church on Sunday morning 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.

Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji
Bello 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," he
stated.

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.

"The conditions for reopening the church
must include: complete sanitization of the
entire church environment, putting in place
proper solid waste facility, stoppage of
refuse burning, removal of all structures on
drainage channel, building of new toilet
facilities, evacuation of solid waste dumped
inside the canal and so on," he said.

Bello 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 member
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.

When visited the church this
morning, members of the church were working
frantically to clean up their environment.

They have also begun massive demolition of
structures built on drainage alignment.

The church spokesman, Pastor Chidi, declined
to comment on the closure, saying he had not
been officially briefed by the General
Overseer of the church, Pastor Lazarus
Muoka.

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