Lagos State has stepped up its efforts to maintain a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable environment, with the prosecution of over 3,700 street traders, cart pushers, and environmental offenders in the last 12 months. The state’s Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, revealed this in a Ministerial News Briefing held at the Alausa Secretariat in Ikeja on Friday.
According to Wahab, the arrests were part of the Lagos State Government’s continued push to ensure environmental discipline. He explained that the 3,786 people arrested were charged with various environmental offences, including illegal street trading, waste dumping, and obstruction of roads, among others. This figure includes nearly 700 individuals caught crossing highways illegally, putting their lives at risk.
“At the last count, almost 700 persons were arrested for highway crossing, which endangers their lives,” Wahab stated, highlighting that such actions were not only harmful to the offenders but also a serious hazard to public safety.
The Lagos State Government has also been tackling the issue of illegal structures and environmental pollution. In partnership with the State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences, the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) team led efforts to clear rail tracks and demolish illegal shanties and structures around key areas in the city. These included the Apongbon bridge, Lekki, Victoria Island, Agege, Obalende, and along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
This wide-reaching operation is part of the government’s strategy to keep the city’s infrastructure clean and functional, while also making it safer for residents and commuters. Wahab pointed out that the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu remains deeply committed to environmental sustainability, which is at the core of the state’s developmental agenda.
Lagos, with an estimated population of over 22 million people, generates over 13,000 metric tonnes of waste daily, making it the largest producer of waste in the West African sub-region. The state government is working to address this challenge through a combination of innovative waste management strategies and comprehensive policy actions.
Governor Sanwo-Olu’s administration has been actively pursuing a “circular economy” approach, which seeks to move away from the traditional waste disposal model of “collect and dump.” Instead, the government aims to find sustainable solutions to reduce waste, promote recycling, and limit the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. This includes partnerships with local and international organizations to improve waste collection and resource management.
Wahab also highlighted several new initiatives to address the growing issue of waste, including the development of a Waste-to-Energy plant in Epe. The plant, which is being constructed in collaboration with a Dutch firm, Harvest Waste Consortium, will use advanced technology to generate clean energy from municipal solid waste. It is expected to process 2,500 tonnes of waste daily and provide electricity to around 40,000 homes, helping to reduce the strain on Nigeria’s national power grid.
Other efforts include the establishment of a Material Recovery Facility and Transfer Loading Stations with the Jospong Group, through Zoom Lion Nigeria. These initiatives are expected to enhance waste collection and recycling efforts, processing up to 3,500 tonnes of solid waste daily.
In addition to these projects, the Lagos State Government has partnered with a Netherlands-backed company, “Close the Loop” BV, to build an e-waste smelting plant. This facility will help manage Lagos’s vast accumulation of electronic waste and is expected to create jobs and boost the state’s economy.
On a more practical level, the Lagos State Government has deployed 15,000 street sweepers across the city to maintain cleanliness. Efforts have also been made to improve waste disposal practices, with increased enforcement of laws against illegal dumping and open defecation. As part of this, the state is constructing 150 new public toilets, with an additional 250 toilets being developed through public-private partnerships under the WASH initiative.
Wahab highlighted that these efforts align with the government’s goal to make Lagos a more climate-resilient city. This includes investing in urban greening programs, improving air quality, and expanding air quality monitoring systems to track pollution levels. Furthermore, in line with these climate resilience efforts, the state has focused on improving its drainage system, cleaning over 666 kilometers of secondary drainage channels this year alone, with additional projects underway to address flooding issues.
The actions taken by the Lagos State Government are a direct response to the growing concerns over pollution, illegal waste disposal, and unregulated construction in the state’s urban spaces. With a proactive approach to these issues, the government hopes to build a more resilient Lagos, ready to face the challenges of a rapidly growing and evolving city.
