Lagos govt unveils app to report environmental law violations

By Dada Jackson

The quest for a cleaner Lagos city initiative through citizens’ participation has received a boost with the state government unveiling an online application known as “Citi Monitor” for monitoring and reporting of all environmental infractions.

Launching the app named “CitiMonitor Application and Enterprise Environmental Monitoring Infrastructure Information system (EEMIIS)” at Alausa, Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello, stated that it would give government a wider reach in monitoring and responding to environmental issues reported by residents.

His words: “This app will maximise the reach of the government using the large population of Lagos, it will get to the nooks and crannies and it will help us to better report the state of the environment from blockage of our canals, to indiscriminate waste dumping and every other infractions.”

The commissioner who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Office of Environmental Services, Mrs Belinda Odeneye, explained that the application, which the state government had been test-running for sometime, was now available for download on Google Play Store and Apple IOS Store.

Bello pointed out that there were complaints and reports of infractions on daily basis on flooding, damaged roads, dilapidated building, illegal petrol stations, security violations, unlawful human activities, vehicle traffic situations, abandoned vehicles and other environmentally related issues that are underreported or not reported at all in the state.

He encouraged residents to avail themselves of the opportunity of downloading the App as it is clear that it would help them take ownership of the environment of the state as the citizens are the primary custodians.

He added that some selected officers of the ministry were already using the application including 25 officers from the State-of-the Environment programme while other officers on the programme are expected to log on after the launch.

The commissioner said that residents could still make use of the WhatsApp, text messages and other means to also report environmental infractions.

Also speaking, the software developer, Mr Ayodeji Faniran, said “Citi Monitor” became necessary in line with emerging trends especially in the utilization of science and technology.

He explained that one of the unique features of the app is that it is configured to capture real-time images within the Lagos geographical locations only.

“You cannot upload pictures from your gallery, you cannot submit pictures from other parts of the country or the world, only pictures from Lagos State can be submitted, and once you click the picture anywhere in Lagos State. It’s going to have the time stamp, the location/address and then you can pick the local government and the markets. All local governments and markets in Lagos State have been configured,” he said.

Faniran added that plans were being made to introduce other languages, especially the Yoruba language to enable more residents of Lagos to use the app which is currently configured in the English language.