Lagos Declares One-Month State of Emergency on Waste Management
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared a one-month state of emergency on waste management, as the state battles a sharp increase in daily refuse and delays at disposal sites.
Sanwo-Olu announced the measure on Wednesday after inspecting the Olusosun dumpsite in Ojota, alongside Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat and Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources Tokunbo Wahab.
The governor said immediate action was needed to prevent residents from facing further problems caused by poor waste disposal and to improve the movement of waste trucks across the state.
Olusosun Capacity to Be Increased
A major focus of the emergency response is Olusosun, where the government plans to increase daily handling capacity from about 250–350 trucks to between 350 and 450 trucks.
The number of tipping points will also rise from the current two or three to four or five.
The aim is to reduce the hours trucks spend waiting to discharge refuse, a delay that can affect the entire waste collection chain.
Sanwo-Olu said the government wants to prevent situations where waste trucks spend half a day or an entire day waiting at dumpsites before returning to collect more refuse.
Lagos Now Generates About 17,000 Tonnes of Waste Daily
The scale of the challenge has also increased significantly.
According to Hamzat, Lagos initially estimated that residents generated around 13,000 tonnes of waste every day. That figure has now risen to approximately 17,000 tonnes daily.
The increase has placed additional pressure on the state’s collection, transportation and disposal infrastructure.
Four More Disposal Sites to Be Reactivated
The government is also moving to reactivate additional disposal locations in different parts of Lagos.
They include:
- Solu 3 in Alimosho
- Iwulepe in Ikorodu
- Oke Osho in Epe
- Erikitte in Badagry
Sanwo-Olu said work on the road leading to Solu 3 would begin with stabilisation and grading, with completion expected within two to three weeks.
Similar interventions are planned at Iwulepe and Oke Osho, with the government targeting several active disposal sites within the coming weeks.
160 New Compactor Trucks Ordered
To strengthen waste collection, the Lagos government has also ordered 160 new compactor trucks.
Sanwo-Olu said shipment would begin soon, while Zoomlion is expected to procure additional compactors.
The government also plans to acquire landfill compactors to improve operations at disposal sites.
Bigger Infrastructure Projects Planned
Beyond the immediate emergency measures, Lagos is working with Zoomlion on a longer-term waste management infrastructure programme.
A 2,400-metric-tonne transfer loading station is being developed at Olusosun, with another facility of the same capacity planned for Solu 3.
The facilities are designed to receive compacted waste before it moves to material recovery facilities for sorting and further processing.
Material recovery facilities are also planned for Oke Osho in Epe and Erikitte in Badagry.
Sanwo-Olu said the projects involve investments worth tens of millions of dollars, with physical work expected to become visible before the end of the year. Operations are projected to begin between the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter of next year.
Government Reviews PSP Operators
The government is also reviewing the structure of Lagos’ Private Sector Participation (PSP) waste collection scheme.
Sanwo-Olu said the review would determine which operators have the capacity, knowledge and financial strength to continue providing services.
An independent assessment will also be conducted to establish how many PSP operators are genuinely effective.
The governor said the objective was not simply to maintain a large number of registered operators but to ensure that those operating across Lagos can actually deliver.
Residents Asked to Pay for Waste Collection
While announcing the emergency measures, Sanwo-Olu appealed to residents and property owners to pay for waste collection services.
He stressed that keeping Lagos clean cannot be the responsibility of government alone and requires cooperation among the government, waste operators and residents.
The one-month emergency therefore comes with both immediate and longer-term measures — from increasing dump-site capacity and deploying more trucks to building infrastructure for waste transfer, recovery and processing.
For Lagos residents, the success of the intervention will ultimately be measured not by the number of trucks ordered, but by whether refuse is collected promptly, roads and neighbourhoods remain cleaner, and waste disposal becomes more efficient across the state.
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