The Federal Government has warned that Lagos State lost $2.1bn due to the adverse effect of environmental pollution in the state. The Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, said this was according to a report by the World Health Organisation on pollution in major cities of the world.
Onu, who disclosed this when he inaugurated the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Pollution control in Nigeria, however, did not state the period when Lagos lost the huge sum.The minister, in a statement issued in Abuja by the Director, Press and Public Relations, Abdulganiyu Aminu, said the WHO report emphasised that women and children lost their lives due to the menace of pollution.
He was quoted as saying, “The (WHO) report said Lagos has a higher level of pollution than what is acceptable and the cost is heavy in terms of human lives and revenue to the nation.”