Lagos May Bring Back Monthly Sanitation by March, Wahab Hints

By: Oluwaseun Lawal

It used to be routine. Last Saturday of the month. 7 a.m. No movement. Just brooms and buckets.

That exercise might be coming back.

Lagos State Government says the suspended monthly environmental sanitation could resume on or before March. The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, dropped the hint on Sunday after leading an inspection across parts of Lagos Island.

According to him, the state had actually planned to restart it earlier, but logistics got in the way. “We were meant to start last week,” he said, explaining that consultations are still ongoing to settle on a date acceptable to stakeholders. Once agreed, the public will be informed.

The sanitation exercise was halted in November 2016, at the time government argued that restricting movement in a megacity like Lagos was no longer practical. But worsening waste issues — blocked drains, illegal dumping, refuse spilling onto medians — have brought the conversation back.

Wahab didn’t mince words. “We just have a discipline problem, not a waste problem,” he said. Traders along certain corridors, he noted, have waste bins but refuse to use them, sometimes dumping refuse in drainage channels instead. He warned that enforcement would be stepped up immediately. Big stick, he implied.

Beyond enforcement, the ministry is pushing ahead with regeneration projects on Lagos Island. Areas that once required rain boots during the rainy season, he said, are now seeing gradual improvement. Not perfect. But better.

During the tour, officials visited Oja Oba Underbridge, Idumota, Aroloya Street, Alfred Rewane Collector, Bourdillon Collector, Macpherson Collector and Five Cowries Creek in Ikoyi. At Oja Oba Underbridge, Wahab explained that the government is reviewing proposals from private parties under PPP and CSR arrangements to formalise usage of the space. Designs are being scrutinized before approvals are granted.

Similar underbridge projects at Obalende and Ijora have been completed, with a football pitch planned at Ijora as part of corporate social responsibility efforts. The approach, he said, is phased — clear the spaces first, then secure long-term solutions.

For now, residents are being asked to be patient. And possibly, to get their brooms ready again. March is around the corner.