Lagos State Government yesterday reiterated its resolve to continue the demolition of illegal structures in places of worship to regulate the construction of places of worship in the state.
The state Commissioner for the Environment and Physical Planning, Mr. Kayode Anibaba, who stated this at a meeting with representatives of religious organisations, noted that the need to check proliferation of churches in the state became necessary to ensure that sanity was restored to the environment.
The commissioner, who recalled the bitterness such proliferation of religious places had caused between religious bodies and government, said the issue constituted gross environmental nuisance such as noise, traffic congestion and over concentration in the state.
"Majority of these places of worship are sited in residential buildings, school buildings, and warehouses and in some worst cases, residential rooms and spaces between or in front of buildings are used as places of worship," he stressed.
While noting that the state government gave high regard to sacred institutions, Anibaba said his ministry had to enter into dialogue with the concerned church leaders in view of the petitions from aggrieved members of the public on their activities.
The purpose of the meeting, he said, was to educate religious organisations on approvable standards with the hope that ameliorative measures would be embarked upon and new places of worship sited in approvable zones.
Anibaba said approved government's guideline for worship places include a 150 metre land requirement, with 50 per cent maximum coverage, located in schemed and approved layout, plots, and with motorable accessible road network, with no less than nine metre witdth.