Thursday, September 10, 2026 - Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has declared a “small state of emergency” on waste management to tackle mounting refuse collection and disposal challenges across the metropolis.
The declaration followed an inspection tour of the Olusosun
dumpsite in Ojota, where the governor was accompanied by Deputy Governor Dr.
Obafemi Hamzat and the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources,
Tokunbo Wahab. The visit was aimed at identifying operational bottlenecks and
deploying immediate, medium, and long-term interventions.
Acknowledging recent pressure on waste collection that led to
indiscriminate refuse dumping, Sanwo-Olu outlined the state's immediate
strategy to overhaul operations.
“We are here for ourselves to see
what the problem is and what is happening, so that we can clearly declare what
we will call a small state of emergency,” Sanwo-Olu said. “This is necessary
for us to get out of this very unpleasant situation and restore effective waste
collection and disposal across Lagos.”
To address the backlog, the state is expanding daily intake
at Olusosun from 250–350 trucks to 350–450 trucks by increasing active tipping
points from two to as many as five. Interventions are also slated for Solu 3,
Iwulepe in Ikorodu, Oke-Osho in Epe, and Erikitte in Badagry.
“We are hoping that in another six
weeks, we will have four active dump sites , Olusosun, Solu 3, Iwulepe and
Oke-Osho with a fifth one at Erikitte in Badagry,” Sanwo-Olu noted. “What that
will do is enhance and improve the turnaround of trucks on the various roads,
so that they do not come to one dump site and spend 12 hours or even an entire
day before they can discharge.”
As part of the structural overhaul,
construction is underway for two 2,400-metric-tonne transfer loading stations
at Olusosun and Solu 3 in Alimosho. These hubs will feed waste to material
recovery facilities being established in Oke-Osho and Erikitte.
“The two transfer loading stations
should be able to receive about 500 trucks per day, while the material recovery
sites will allow us to further sort and convert waste into other useful
materials,” he explained. “These are medium to long-term solutions, and we
expect the facilities to begin taking shape before the end of the year, with
completion expected between the second quarter of next year and the first
quarter.”
He added: “These are tens of
millions of dollars of investment in waste management that will form part of
the long-term solution to solving waste generation, waste disposal and waste
conversion in the state.”
To strengthen fleet capacity, the state government has
procured 160 new compactor trucks, with additional units arriving through
partner firm Zoomlion alongside specialized landfill compactors.
“We do not
want to have 800 PSPs when only 400 are effective. We need to purge the system
and create space for more investors and people who have the capacity to come
in,” Sanwo-Olu said.
The governor also issued a direct call to Lagos residents to
fulfill their civic obligations by paying for waste disposal services.
“Lagosians,
in particular, want service, but we do not want to pay for the service. I think
this era has to stop,” he stated. “It is unfair to see people rendering
services and people are not paying them for the services they are rendering.”
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