Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, has publicly apologised to residents over months of poor waste evacuation that left refuse piled on roads and clogging drainage channels.
Speaking on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Friday, Wahab admitted the situation had been “very bad” for the past three to four months.
“Let me start by apologising to Lagosians. The past three, four months have been very bad with respect to waste collection, but we didn’t just get there overnight,” he said. “I won’t play the ostrich by not admitting we had a challenge. Are we fixing it? Yes.”
Residents have complained online that waste in some areas goes uncollected for weeks, raising concerns about public health and sanitation.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has since ordered round-the-clock waste evacuation to clear the heaps across the metropolis.
Wahab said the old “pick-and-dump” system is no longer viable for Lagos. Landfills like Olusosun and Solous, once on the city’s outskirts, are now surrounded by buildings due to rapid urbanisation. With Lagos occupying only 3,355 square kilometres, about 0.4% of Nigeria’s land mass, the commissioner said the state must rethink its approach.
The government is shifting toward a circular waste economy. Recent steps include a biodigester at the Ecocircuit centre that converts food waste to energy, and plans for a larger waste-to-energy plant designed to process about 4,250 tonnes of waste daily.
In April, Lagos also revived its monthly environmental sanitation exercise after a 10-year break. The clean-up exercise was halted in November 2016 following a court ruling.
