Thursday, October 22, 2009

Lagos to introduce electric vehicles in 2010
By Sulaimon Salau

POISED to become one of the fastest developing states of the world, the Lagos State Government yesterday said it planned to introduce electric vehicles in the state by January 2010.

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The State Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Muiz Banire, disclosed this at a sensitisation programme to combat climate change in Ifako-Ijaye Local Council. He said the order had been placed for the vehicles and arrangements concluded to start using them by January 2010.

The technology, which is new around the world, he said, would in the first phase be used by the Ministry of Environment and then other parastatals and councils in the state. The move, he noted, would go a long way in eradicating emission and ultimately promoting the state's cleaner environment initiative.

Lamenting human activities that cause ozone depletion, the commissioner stressed that the state government would also adopt energy efficiency system by replacing the energy consuming bulbs with the energy-saving bulbs. Banire, therefore, urged Lagosians to shun activities that lead to climate change, such as bush burning, refuse burning, unserviced cars and generator emissions, among others.

"Climate change does not only create food crises, but it is also a mass-killer, and that is why it attracts higher attention than Human Immune Virus (HIV)," he said.

In view of this, he said, the state government was committed to combating global warming and will intensify efforts on the existing and emerging strategies, such as the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT), Eko solar project, landscaping and beautification and the aggressive tree planting programmes, among others.

The Executive Chairman of Ifako-Ijaye Local Council, Mr. Demola Doherty, who championed the sensitisation programme, said that evidence of change and impacts of climate change abound in every community, hence the need for all and sundry to brace up for the challenges and guarantee life sustainability on earth.

He added: "I therefore urge our people to change their attitude towards the environment and support efforts to reclaim the same from agents of degradation. It is in this direction that our administration will continue to intensify efforts on tree planting.

"We will construct more roads and drainage, linking them with each other to ensure free and unimpeded flow of water, as well as ensure environmental cleanliness and waste disposal management to prevent the occurrence of flood in our council areas."

Global warming is an increase in average temperature of the earth atmosphere, leading to climate change. The rate at which earth is heating up is high and issues such as ozone depletion, melting ice, rising sea level and flooding are also on the increase.

The effects of these are enumerated as mental related diseases, respiratory diseases, increase in temperature, heat waves, food scarcity, low life span, flooding, water contamination and short-term labour, among others.