Lagos defends cleanup record, blames underperforming operators, public non‑compliance
LASG
Abdullateef Fowewe
Lagos state Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab has pushed back at opposition criticism over visible waste buildup in parts of the city.
Wahab in a statement on Saturday stated the scale of Lagos’ waste challenge and ongoing interventions are often overlooked even as he acknowledged service shortfalls in some communities.
“A lot of people are genuinely concerned about the waste situation in parts of Lagos, and that concern is understandable. Waste is not something you can talk around,” Wahab said in a statement responding to comments by the former Lagos Labour Party gubernatorial candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes‑Vivour.
“If refuse is sitting on your street, beside your market, close to your bus stop, or inside the drainage near your house, the only thing that matters to you is that it should be removed. And that is fair.”
Wahab set out figures intended to put the problem in context, saying Lagos generates about 13,000 tonnes of waste every day and that in May LAWMA and private sector PSP operators evacuated roughly 418,500 tonnes across the state, an average of about 13,200 tonnes per day.
“That is not a small operation,” he said, noting the large workforce and logistics involved, from street sweepers to enforcement and monitoring teams.
The commissioner conceded gaps in service, listing causes such as underperforming PSP operators, routes that have outgrown their assigned capacities, poor road access, truck breakdowns, high fuel and spare‑parts costs, and weak payment compliance by some residents and businesses.
“These are not excuses but the harsh realities that have to be fixed,” he said.
Wahab detailed specific operational measures LAWMA has taken: reviewing and sanctioning weak routes and operators, increasing monitoring, and deploying evacuation teams to pressure points.
He said 442 PSP operators were active in May while 27 routes were under review, and that LAWMA received 474 complaints and service requests that month.
“That is how the agency is identifying weak spots and following up on operator performance,” he added.
Highlighting daily work often invisible to residents, Wahab said LAWMA clears about 3,000 blackspots every day across 57 routes — medians, market edges, illegal dumping points, bus stops and other open spaces that recur as improvised dumps.
He also cited enforcement figures for 2025: 1,023 recorded incidents of illegal dumping and other violations statewide, with 447 cases referred for prosecution.
Surveillance teams, he said, identified 431 scavengers and reconciled 145 properties with their assigned PSP operators.
“Street sweeping is another big part of the work,” Wahab said, acknowledging that littering from vehicles, markets and buses can re‑dirty swept routes within hours and that sweeping alone is not a long‑term fix.
“We need better behaviour, stronger enforcement, more mechanised sweeping on strategic roads, and safer working conditions for the sweepers,” he added.
Wahab further outlined infrastructure projects he says will shift Lagos from a collect‑and‑dump model toward recovery and recycling.
He said construction is underway for Transfer Loading Stations to replace Olusosun and Solous III landfills, supported by Material Recovery Facilities in Ikorodu and Badagry.
The Olusosun system, he stated, is expected to move about 2,500 tonnes daily to the Ikorodu MRF while Solous III would move about 1,500 tonnes daily to Badagry — targets the commissioner said should be met within six months.
The commissioner also pointed to organic‑waste initiatives, including the launched Ikosi Fruit Market biodigester that converts market organics into biogas, electricity and fertiliser.
“The plan is to replicate that model in other markets that generate high volumes of organic waste,” he said.
Wahab did not spare criticism for his political opponents.
Responding to Rhodes‑Vivour, he accused the latter of “jumping on the Governor’s release for his political agenda without talking solutions,” suggesting public alarm should be paired with willingness to stop illegal dumping and support system reforms.
While insisting that “some backlogs should not have happened” and that residents deserve better service, Wahab framed the issue as a shared responsibility: government must keep improving systems and infrastructure, and residents, markets and businesses must comply with collection arrangements and stop illegal dumping.
