Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu
LAGOS, Nigeria – Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has declared a state of emergency on waste collection, ordering immediate measures to tackle mounting refuse and operational challenges affecting waste management across the state.
Sanwo-Olu made the declaration on Wednesday during an inspection of the Olusosun dumpsite in Ojota, where he met with stakeholders and reviewed factors contributing to delays in municipal waste collection.
The governor attributed the situation partly to the inability of some Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators to meet their obligations in recent weeks, as well as fire incidents at dumpsites that disrupted operations.
“In the past couple of weeks, we have seen pressure and slow turnaround in waste collection in different parts of the city. We have seen residents throwing waste indiscriminately at undesignated areas in the city,” he said.
Lagos Orders More Trucks, Dumpsite Access Improvements
Sanwo-Olu said the state government had begun immediate measures to improve access to its five dumpsites.
He said access roads would be stabilised, while roads leading to the Ewu Elepe and Oke Oso dumpsites would be rehabilitated to improve waste movement.
The governor also disclosed that the government had ordered 160 modern compactors to increase waste collection capacity.
Development partners and PSP operators, he added, would provide additional trucks and equipment to support the response.
“We are here to see what the problem is and for us to be able to declare a state of emergency so that we can take the state out of this unpleasant situation,” Sanwo-Olu said.
Lagos Plans New Waste Transfer Stations
The governor announced plans to construct a 2,400-metric-tonne transfer loading station at Olusosun and another at Solous 3 in Alimosho.
