Lagos shuts Coca-Cola, FrieslandCampina, Guinness factories over regulatory non-compliance
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission (LASWARCO) has shut down the factories of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, and Guinness Nigeria for extracting groundwater without proper authorisation.
LASWARCO’s Director of Technical Services, Olowu Babatunde, disclosed the enforcement action on Tuesday, stating that the commission had engaged with the companies for over seven years regarding compliance but observed only partial or no adherence to regulations.
“We operate a law that empowers us to regulate most of these heavy abstractors in Lagos State,” Babatunde said.
“So, these companies that we have sealed, basically three of them – Coca-Cola, FrieslandCampina and Guinness, abstract water in large quantities.
“And we have been engaging them over time. At least, I have been here for more than seven years now. We’ve been engaging these companies for more than seven years now.
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“Some, either they do partial compliance, or some don’t comply at all. So, now that we started implementation of our regulation, we now compel them to fulfil all their regulatory demands.”
The closures are grounded in the Lagos State Environmental Management Protection Law of 2017, which empowers LASWARCO to regulate groundwater activities to prevent environmental risks like land subsidence and groundwater contamination.
Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, noted that the government introduced a 75% waiver on groundwater abstraction fees in 2020 to encourage compliance. However, many organisations failed to take advantage of the incentive, leading to enforcement measures.
LASWARCO issued letters to non-compliant organisations, giving them 72 hours to comply with regulatory demands or face penalties.
The government emphasised that the move was necessary to safeguard the environment and ensure sustainable resource management.