In recent months, Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, has been battling mounting piles of refuse along major roads and in drainage channels across the metropolis, with many residents complaining that waste collection now takes weeks in some areas.
The uncollected refuse litters roads, markets and residential areas, raising concerns among residents and experts that the worsening waste crisis is threatening public health, disrupting businesses and denting the image of Nigeria’s commercial capital.
Weekend Trust reports that from Mushin to Oshodi, Egbeda, Surulere, Ajegunle, Ikorodu, Ojo, Obalende, Apapa and Mile 2, heaps of decomposing waste line streets and drainage channels, leaving communities to contend with offensive odours, flies and rodents.
Waste management in Lagos State has undergone major changes over the past decade, as successive administrations have adopted different approaches to tackling the city’s growing refuse problem.
Former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode introduced the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) in 2017 through a partnership with Visionscape Sanitation Solutions. The programme aimed to modernise waste collection through the deployment of new technology, the establishment of transfer stations and engineered landfills, and the development of waste-to-energy projects.
However, the transition was plagued by challenges. Poor implementation, legal disputes, unclear service responsibilities and public dissatisfaction disrupted waste collection in many parts of the state, making the initiative one of the most controversial policies of the Ambode administration.
After taking office in 2019, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu reversed the approach by restoring the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) as the lead agency and strengthening the Private Sector Participation (PSP) scheme rather than replacing it.
The administration also shifted its focus to recycling, composting, waste-to-wealth initiatives and other circular economy programmes aimed at reducing pressure on landfills and improving environmental sustainability.
In April, the state reinstated the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, 10 years after it was suspended following a court ruling.
Despite these reforms, refuse management remains a major challenge.
Why the waste crisis persists
In August, Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat attributed the worsening waste situation to increased waste generation, a shortage of functional waste collection trucks and challenges facing private waste operators.
Hamzat said LAWMA, the agency responsible for waste management in the state, was dealing with a volume of refuse significantly higher than initially estimated.
He disclosed this during an interview on Nigerian Info 99.3 FM.
According to him, the state government initially estimated that Lagos generated about 13,000 tonnes of waste daily but later discovered that the figure was closer to 17,000 tonnes.
“Well, so, you know, it’s easy for me to just throw the agency under the bus, but I won’t do that. That’s the agency that’s responsible, that we all know, LAWMA. But we’ve asked them to do a job, the scale of which we did not predict,” Hamzat said.
“And that scale of the waste is really unprecedented in this part of the world. So we thought that we are generating 13,000 tonnes on a daily basis. It turns out we are generating about 17,000,” he added.
Hamzat said the difference between the estimated and actual volumes of waste had made it difficult for the government to plan and manage refuse collection effectively across the state.
He stressed the importance of accurate data, noting that the government could not properly plan for a problem it could not accurately measure.
Lagos turns to Ogun for ‘help’
Lagos and neighbouring Ogun State may be heading for a fresh dispute over the worsening refuse crisis in Nigeria’s commercial capital.
Our correspondent reliably gathered that trucks linked to LAWMA were recently caught dumping refuse around the Sotubo axis of the Sagamu–Ikorodu Expressway in Ogun State.
Sources said the move was intended to ease pressure on the Olusosun dumpsite and address the growing waste crisis in Lagos.
However, residents and the management of the Southwestern Nigerian College of Health Technology, located in the area, opposed the dumping, citing potential environmental and public health risks.
Residents said they had raised concerns for weeks over trucks transporting refuse from Lagos into the community, alleging that the area was gradually being turned into an illegal dumpsite.
They warned that the development had polluted the environment, exposed residents to offensive odours and increased the risk of disease outbreaks.
Angered by the development, the chairman of Sagamu Local Government Area reportedly stormed the location and seized several trucks linked to LAWMA.
The chairman said the action followed complaints from residents and community leaders about the environmental and health hazards posed by the activities of refuse truck drivers allegedly transporting waste from Lagos State into Ogun State.
He described the situation as unacceptable, insisting that Sagamu would not serve as a dumping ground for waste generated outside the local government area.
As part of the enforcement exercise, some of the trucks were impounded, while others were directed to return to Lagos State.
When our correspondent contacted Ogun State Commissioner for Environment Ola Oresanya for comment, he declined to speak on the matter.
“I don’t want to comment on the issue for now,” he told our correspondent.
Residents speak
Residents said the situation had become more worrying during the rainy season, as blocked drains worsened flooding and stagnant water mixed with decomposing waste.
Health experts warn that such conditions create breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other disease-causing organisms, increasing the risk of cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhoea and other sanitation-related diseases.
Parents also expressed concern about the health and safety of their children.
Mrs Adeline Ogunleye, a 62-year-old trader in Mushin, said overflowing refuse had become part of daily life.
“Every morning, the smell wakes us before the alarm clock does,” she said, adding, “We have learnt to live with it, but we shouldn’t have to.”
Commercial bus driver Taiwo Lawal said the refuse heaps had become another obstacle for motorists.
“Sometimes, the garbage blocks half of the road. When it rains, you can’t even tell where the drainage begins or where the road ends,” he said.
Business owners said the crisis was affecting patronage. Blessing Okafor, who runs a restaurant in Oshodi, said customers often left because of the offensive odour.
At Boundary Market in Ajegunle, traders said shoppers now avoided areas close to overflowing dumpsites, while food vendors in nearby Alayabiagba lamented the constant invasion of flies.
Ayomikun Olabusoye, a resident of Ikotun, described the situation as embarrassing for a state that prides itself on being the “Centre of Excellence”. However, he acknowledged that LAWMA officials regularly evacuated refuse in his area.
Similarly, Peace Okoro, a resident of Ogba, said offensive odours were polluting the environment and that blocked drains worsened flooding whenever it rained.
‘Refuse crisis could trigger disease outbreaks’
Dr Otubo Victor, a public health advocate, said poor waste management exposed residents to diseases such as cholera, malaria and hepatitis.
Speaking in an interview, he said Lagos’ perennial flooding compounded the problem, as refuse dumped on streets was washed into waterways whenever it rained.
He said contaminated water could pose serious health risks to families, particularly those who relied on boreholes for drinking and cooking.
Victor also blamed irregular refuse collection for the growing waste crisis, noting that in some parts of Lagos, waste remained uncollected for four to five weeks or longer.
He said the situation posed significant public health risks and called for a more efficient and regulated waste collection system.
“In developed countries, waste is collected much more frequently. I was in London two weeks ago, and refuse collectors came every two days. Lagos should adopt a similar system by ensuring that waste is evacuated at least every two days,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu declares emergency, rolls out measures
Last month, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu declared a state of emergency on waste management in Lagos in a bid to address what he described as an “unpleasant situation”.
Sanwo-Olu had inspected the Olusosun dumpsite in Ojota alongside Hamzat and the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab.
During the visit, the governor declared what he described as a “small state of emergency” in waste management and announced a series of measures to be implemented over a month to tackle the crisis.
“We’re here for ourselves to see what is the problem, what is happening, and for us to clearly be able to declare what we will call a small state of emergency, just so that we can get out of this very unpleasant situation,” Sanwo-Olu said.
The governor said the state was working to increase Olusosun’s capacity to receive between 350 and 450 trucks daily, compared with its existing capacity of about 250 to 350 trucks.
He explained that this would be achieved by increasing the number of tipping points at the landfill from the existing two or three to four or five, thereby improving truck turnaround times.
According to him, the objective was to ensure that trucks did not spend several hours or an entire day waiting to discharge waste at landfill sites.
Sanwo-Olu said the state was also working to reactivate additional waste disposal sites, including Solu 3 in Alimosho, Iwulepe in Ikorodu, Oke Osho in Epe and Erikitte in Badagry.
He said work on the road serving Solu 3 would begin with road stabilisation and grading, with completion expected within two to three weeks.
The governor added that stabilisation work would also be carried out at Iwulepe and Oke Osho. He expressed optimism that four active dumpsites would be operational within about six weeks, alongside the Badagry facility.
“This will enhance and improve the turnaround of the trucks on the various roads so that they don’t need to come to the dump site and spend one day, spend 12 hours for them to be able to pick,” he said.
On the shortage of functional waste collection equipment, Sanwo-Olu disclosed that the state government had ordered 160 new compactor trucks.
He said shipment of the trucks was expected to begin soon, adding that the equipment would increase the state’s capacity to evacuate waste from homes and roads to disposal sites.
The governor said Zoomlion would also procure additional compactor trucks, while the state would acquire landfill compactors to improve operations at disposal sites.
Beyond the immediate measures, Sanwo-Olu said the state was implementing a long-term waste management infrastructure programme in partnership with Zoomlion.
He said a 2,400-metric-tonne transfer loading station was being developed at Olusosun, with another of the same capacity planned for Solu 3.
According to him, the stations would receive compacted waste before transferring it to material recovery facilities for further sorting and processing.
He said two material recovery facilities were being developed at Oke Osho in Epe and Erikitte in Badagry.
Sanwo-Olu said the projects represented investments worth tens of millions of dollars and were expected to provide a long-term solution to waste generation, disposal and conversion in Lagos.
He said physical development on the projects should be visible by the end of the year, while the facilities were expected to become operational between the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter of the following year.
The governor also disclosed that the state government and operators under the PSP scheme were reviewing the structure and capacity of waste collection operators.
He said PSP operators had agreed to “purge themselves” by identifying those with the capacity, knowledge and financial strength to continue operating in Lagos.
Sanwo-Olu said the exercise would be conducted alongside an independent review by the state government to determine the actual number of effective PSP operators.
“We just don’t want to have 800 PSPs when it is actually only 400 that is effective, or have a number that we’re just carrying the number, and 20 or 30 or 40 of that are not effective,” he said.
He added that PSP operators had also committed to procuring more compactor trucks, while the state government would explore financing arrangements to reduce investment risks and prevent operators from becoming financially distressed.
The governor, however, appealed to residents and property owners to pay for waste collection services, stressing that effective waste management required shared responsibility among the government, operators and residents.
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