By Muyiwa Gbadegesin
The attention of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has been drawn to The Nation’s Sunday Parade feature of Sunday, October 12, titled ‘Fear of Epidemic as Refuse Takes Over Lagos’, which raises some public-health concerns and posits that Lagos may be returning to the old bad and inglorious days of mountains of refuse.
While the state government, through the Lagos Waste Management Authority, takes those concerns seriously, it is, however, very inaccurate and fallacious to suggest that the city’s waste-management system has “collapsed.” As of today, Lagos generates roughly 13,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste every day—which ranks among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa—and the system in place continues to collect and dispose of the vast majority of it daily through LAWMA’s public–private model with licensed PSP operators.
The pertinent question that the report failed to highlight and which should agitate the minds of everyone is: “What could be driving the recent nuisance spots along Apapa–Mile 2–Oshodi, Ikotun–Ejigbo–Egbeda, Iyana Ipaja, LASU–Iyana Iba, and around large markets in the state?”
These pile-ups reflect localized pressure points, not a system-wide or state-wide failure. Some major reasons stick out as being responsible for this increased pile up and include, but are not limited to: Night-time illegal dumping on medians and setbacks by residents or unlicensed collectors trying to avoid PSP service fees. The Lagos State government has responsively tightened penalties to N250,000 fine or up to three months’ imprisonment for illegal dumping and littering, while enforcement is active and ongoing.
There has also been a market-area surge in waste, which comes in the form of high, continuous inflows from traders and non-traders who bring street waste to market frontages, overwhelming daytime loading windows amidst heavy traffic. LAWMA has repeatedly cautioned against using medians as collection points and back up PSPs with targeted “intervention” clearances.
Also noticeable is the return of banned, illegal collectors (“cart pushers”) in some districts, who typically dump refuse at night into canals and road medians, creating the very eyesores residents decry. Authorities have renewed crackdowns with LAWMA and partner agencies undertaking arrests and prosecutions for these offences—with over 300 persons arrested and prosecuted by April alone—through day/night surveillance with KAI/LAGESC.
As a responsible and responsive organisation, LAWMA is responding to the new challenges by undertaking hotspot clearance and night operations through intensified “intervention” sweeps on the named corridors (including Apapa–Mile 2–Oshodi; Ikotun–Jakande Gate; LASU–Iyana Iba), with night evacuations to prevent daytime re-accumulation, paired with targeted enforcement.
The organization is also undertaking PSP performance management through ongoing route reviews, backup services where private capacity is thin; and directory transparency so that residents can reach assigned PSP operators.
Public reporting channels have also been provided so that residents can report black spots and service gaps via 080000LAWMA (08000052962), 07080601020, or the short code 617, or email info@lawma.gov.ng. which are all LAWMA’s official, published hotlines.
The government is also embarking upon structural system upgrades that come with structural fixes. These include decommissioning legacy landfills and building modern infrastructure through which Lagos is transitioning Olusosun (Ojota) and Solous III (Igando) away from open dumping towards a network built around Transfer Loading Stations (TLS) and Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs)—with timelines publicly stated and preparatory works ongoing. This shift shortens haulage, speeds turnaround for PSP trucks, and keeps markets and highways clear.
Also part of the structural upgrade is the Waste-to-Energy pathway, where, as part of the end-state system, the state has outlined waste-to-energy capacity (e.g., Epe) to handle residuals after recycling/composting, reducing landfill reliance and methane emissions. There are also plans to introduce Compact/Mobile TLS at pressure points to stop medians from becoming de facto dumps. LAWMA has advanced plans to introduce compact/mobile TLS that will relocate loading off the roadway and into controlled nodes—especially around large markets and dense corridors.
We are also undertaking organic management and biogas at source: roughly 6,500 tonnes of Lagos’ waste stream is organic. LAWMA’s Ketu-Ikosi market biogas project pilots on-site treatment that will cut odour, reduce bulk, and generate useful energy—an approach now being scaled through training and partnerships.
LAWMA’s marine unit continues clean-ups around Five Cowries Creek and related in-water interventions, working to prevent canal outfalls from pushing litter into the lagoon system. The agency recently screened off 22 canal outlets along Five Cowries Creek to prevent waste from ever entering the canal. This will be extended to other canal outfalls throughout the state.
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LAWMA is also in the process of procuring additional compactor trucks for PSP waste collectors, which will improve service delivery and reliability state-wide when coupled with the introduction of the new Transfer Loading Stations (TLS) that will reduce turnaround time, enabling the PSP operators to evacuate waste more rapidly from the doorsteps of Lagosians.
It must be stressed that Lagos’ scale is unique, with the capacity to manage 13,000 tonnes/day in a megacity of 20 million+ people that requires continuous upgrading of assets and rules—not a one-time fix with that upgrade already underway and publicly documented.
Eyesores are preventable: Where residents must bag waste, keep bins, pay their assigned PSPs, and avoid illegal collectors, medians do not become loading points—and enforcement will continue against violators under the updated penalty regime. Enforcement is real, as arrests and prosecutions of offenders have increased; penalties are stiffer; and surveillance now targets night time dumping, when most infractions occur.
It is, however, expected that residents and businesses play their part by effectively ensuring that they use only the assigned PSP operator (door-to-door collection) and keep a covered bin—never use the median—as your staging point. Residents are to report black spots or service failures to LAWMA via 080000LAWMA (08000052962), 07080601020, 617, or info@lawma.gov.ng for rapid intervention.
We must also segregate organics (especially in markets) and support on-site solutions, such as the Ketu-Ikosi biogas initiative, as they scale. We should not patronise illegal cart pushers—they are a proven source of median dumps and canal blockages.
The bottom line is that Lagos is not returning to “the bad old days.” The city is tightening enforcement against illegal dumping, clearing hotspots, and, most importantly, building the next-generation system—Transfer Loading System + Material Recovery Facilities + market-area compact Transfer Loading System + organics/biogas + Waste To Energy—that will keep refuse off our roads and medians while creating jobs and cleaner neighbourhoods.
It must, however, be stressed that environmental protection ought to be the duty of everyone, and not simply that of the government. Therefore, we all need to embrace a positive attitude towards the environment.
With a global upsurge in the occurrence of natural disasters, partly caused by abuse of the environment, a collective approach to the protection of the environment is, without doubt, the best way to protect the city against diseases and other harmful environmental hazards.
