For stealing electrical wires from the Oke-Afa Wastewater Treatment Plant, a crucial facility under the Lagos State Wastewater Management Office, or LSWMO, a man named Sodiq Oyewummi was given a 12-month jail term.
When Oyewummi tried to remove electrical lines from the government-owned infrastructure, attentive plant personnel caught him in the process. He was turned over right away for prosecution to the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences Court.
He was charged with three counts at the time of his arraignment: theft of government property, wilful damage to government property, and behaviour likely to provoke a breach of peace. Oyewummi was found guilty on the first and third charges after entering a guilty plea.
Commenting on the incident, Engr. Adefemi Afolabi, General Manager of the LSWMO, stated the gravity of the offence and the swift judicial response.
“This conviction reinforces the Lagos State Government’s zero-tolerance policy on public infrastructure vandalism,” Engr. Afolabi stated.
He also noted that the prompt legal action should serve as a deterrent to others and reaffirmed the agency’s resolve to safeguard public infrastructure.
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“LSWMO remains steadfast in its commitment to monitoring and maintaining the state’s wastewater treatment facilities to ensure they operate optimally and serve the public effectively,” he stated.
The Lagos State Wastewater Management Office urged members of the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity around critical infrastructure
