…People dodge giving waste to assigned PSPs – waste managers
…Why enforcement is cumbersome – Official
Every corner in Lagos State is strewn with heaps of waste by residents. Road medians even in highbrow areas are littered with dirt.
These wastes are often dumped in the dead of the night. They are eyesore to passersby and constitute a serious burden on Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), the agency responsible for managing waste in the state.
For some years, Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, has been hit by a refuse crisis, partly due to the wrong waste disposal of many Lagosians’ through indiscriminate dumping of waste in unauthorised places.
From Alimosho to Surulere, Oshodi, Ikorodu, Kosofe, Mushin, Amuwo-Odofin, Ajeromi-Ifelodun to Agege, the piles of refuse could be seen on major roads and streets, especially along the express.
With the just concluded yuletide season, the situation in some part of Lagos got worsened with piles of waste across unauthorised sites – even with the ‘round the clock’ directives of LAWMA to the Private Sector Participant (PSP) operators; the waste just refused to go.
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On the back of this, observers say it appears the waste disposal has significantly overburdened the state’s waste management system, leading to widespread refuse accumulation, blocked drains, environmental degradation, and a possible public health risk.
Many residents fear that an avoidable health disaster is looming across the state with the level of smell emanating from rotting garbage permeating many neighbourhoods it was time for decisive action to stem the trend.
Some Lagosians say the situation has rubbished the successes recorded by the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration in areas of infrastructure development, agriculture, tourism and health, housing, transport and waterfront, among many other areas.
However, LAWMA officials have blamed poor waste disposal habits by residents across Lagos State for making environmental sanitation and enforcement increasingly difficult.
An official in the agency who spoke under the condition of anonymity told BusinessDay that indiscriminate dumping of refuse on roadsides, canals and unapproved locations continues to undermine the state government’s waste management efforts, despite repeated public awareness campaigns.
According to the official, many residents still dispose of household and commercial waste outside designated collection points or patronise illegal waste collectors, popularly known as cart pushers, leading to blocked drainage channels and environmental pollution.
“These practices overstretch our operational capacity,” the official said. “LAWMA has structured waste evacuation schedules and licensed operators, but non-compliance by residents creates avoidable challenges.”
The official explained that enforcement has become cumbersome due to the sheer population of the state, and inadequate cooperation from some communities.
“In many cases, our officers face hostility while trying to enforce environmental laws. Some offenders also exploit weak community reporting structures to evade sanctions,” the official added.
However, the agency continues to face criticism from residents who decried the increasingly irregular services by the PSP operators in many parts of the state.
Residents who spoke to BusinessDay said that in many areas within Lagos the PSP operators do not come to pick up refuse for weeks, forcing residents with no alternatives than to look for avenues to throw their dirty away.
They warned that if the situation is not checked it could cause environmental and public health risks in Lagos.
Obinna Uche, a resident of Ejigbo said many residents are confused about the operation of the PSP operators who do not maintain a regular timetable for picking refuse.
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He said that many residents in her streets now patronise cart pushers who they pay heavily for their refuse to be disposed of.
Uche added that residents who cannot afford may resort to dumping refuse in unauthorised places.
“You can’t just blame residents alone; the blame should also go to the government of Lagos State for failing to fashion out a proper water system in the state that is functioning.
“Many people can’t pay N1, 000 or more that the truck pushers are collecting; depending on the size of your waste, so they are forced to throw refuse on these corners,” Uche said.
He added that the Lagos State government appears confused on how to solve the situation.
Similarly, Lola Ogun, resident of Ikotun, in Alimosho council, said the PSP operators no longer maintain predictable schedules that are understandable to residents across the state.
She said many residents are forced to throw their refuse on the roadside because they have no choice.
“The PSP operators are not coming around; even when they come they don’t come to all the streets. So, people are left on their own with their refuse. It is left for the government to solve this problem,” she said.
Observers say Lagos State has made heavy investments in waste management and introduced technology-enabled drainage mapping, urging effective implementation to close identifiable gaps.
They urged the state government to urgently evacuate heaps of refuse across the state, adequately enforce environmental sanitation laws and effectively supervise PSP operators to avoid waste management crisis and its consequences.
Speaking on the situation, the managing director of LAWMA, Muyiwa Gbadegesin, said that the authority had not relented in efforts to dispose of refuse in time.
He blamed the presence of heaps of refuse in some parts of Lagos on the recalcitrant attitude of some residents and poor performance of some Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators.
He said that many Lagos residents failed to pay for the disposal of their refuse and would not hesitate to dispose of their waste indiscriminately.
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According to him, when the bins are in place, LAWMA’s waste-policing and monitoring personnel will be stationed around the points to prevent residents from dumping refuse on road medians and other wrong spots, as well as ensure prompt refuse evacuation.
“Our focus this year is stronger operator accountability, better collection infrastructure on high-pressure corridors, and stricter enforcement against illegal refuse dumping so that these road medians stop becoming recurring flashpoints.
“This process will be applied to routes experiencing similar issues around the state,” Gbadegesin said.
State’s population in waste management
Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, with population of about 25 million people, generates an average of 5.5 million tons of waste annually, with a daily average of about 13,000 tons. However, data have it that about 60 percent of generated waste remains uncollected, with about 13 percent recycled.
According to the VerivAfrica report on ‘Effective waste management in Lagos: Solutions and economic impact’ published in October 2025, indicated that one of the contributing factors to Lagos’ waste management challenges is the inadequacy of infrastructure.
The report also indicated that only about 3 percent to 6 percent of plastics, 5 percent of other recyclables and less than 1percent of organic waste are currently recycled in the state. Also, the high cost of waste bins discourages residents from participating in the state’s waste sorting initiative, which aims to promote waste sorting at the source.
“Lagos with a population of about 24 million people (and growing) trapped in a landmass of about 3,500 km² will naturally and inevitably has an intense refuse generation and management challenge.
“Sadly, this challenge is worsened by the irresponsible attitude of most residents towards waste disposal. It is akin to making a job inherently difficult even more difficult,” Moses Lawal, a Lagos-based public commentator, said.
Lawal said that when Lagosians, rather than using designated refuse aggregation and collection points, dispose their wastes indiscriminately at any available point, collection of wastes becomes ten times more difficult.
According to him, waste collectors have to start chasing after other nine pockets of refuse scattered over a wide area for every one designated point. “With this, collection turnaround time increases, the humans and equipment stretched to breaking point, and inevitably efficiency tanks.
“While efforts by the Lagos State Government to get more compactor trucks is commendable, it must also accelerate the implementation of the MoUs signed with various organizations on waste-to-energy, material recovery facilities, recycling plants, and transfer loading stations,” Lawal said, indicating that it will inevitably unlock the money-making potentials and further incentivize waste management.
Eche Munonye, a sustainability expert said the Lagos State government should strengthen source separation at household and commercial levels.
Read also: LAWMA intensifies enforcement to curb indiscriminate waste disposal in Lagos
Speaking to the sustainability of Lagos’ waste management, Munonye said the government can build and expand local sorting and transfer stations across the state.
He urged the government to invest in public education and sustained behaviour change campaigns across all the local government areas of the state.
According to him, the state can leverage extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes. He said further that sustainability depends on visibility; hence the government can strengthen transparent reporting and accountability frameworks in waste management.
He added that both LAWMA and PSP operators should publish periodic waste statistics, including collection volumes, recycling rates, dumpsite diversion, among others.
According to him, the government can use independent verification, while engaging communities in accountability forums.
The loopholes
Muyiwa Gbadegesin, managing director/CEO, LAWMA, in a statement before the Christmas/New Year holidays mandated all Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators to sustain effective waste evacuation before, during, and after the yuletide festivities, especially in densely populated residential areas in the state.
According to him, the agency had activated a comprehensive waste management plan to tackle the anticipated surge in waste generation across residential, commercial, and public areas during the holiday period.
However, that directive was hardly effective in many parts of the metropolis as waste continue to litter major roads and streets across many parts of Lagos. In many parts of the metropolis visited by BusinessDay over the weekend – there was a clash between human traffic and littered waste especially along the medians.
“People dodge giving their waste to the PSPs assigned to their area and then choose to go and dump the waste on the highway,” Olugbenga Adebola, national president, Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN) and member, IFAT Africa advisory board, said, indicating the operational gap was as a result of Lagosians not wanting to go through the proper channels.
He identified waste sorting from source, inability of people to want to pay, and lack of bins for proper waste disposal as some of the habits of the waste generators that affect effective and efficient waste collection system in Lagos.
“Sometimes government wants to enforce the bin, but they look at the economic situation where people are saying we have not even eaten, how can we buy the bin? But you see, the truth of the matter is this, waste must be concealed in a waste bin, and this will make it much more easier for waste collection activities,” he said.
According to him, having the waste sorted from source makes it easier for efficient and effective waste collection. “But where the waste are scattered everywhere, where they are supposed to spend just two or three minutes to carry the bin and turn it into a waste truck, they spend like 30 minutes serving only one house.”
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But, response from Lagosians indicate operational challenges that points to the over centralization of LAWMA activities – hence the need for the state government to get the local government administrations directly involved with waste management across the 20 local government areas and 37 Local Council Development Administrations (LCDAs).
“In the short term, getting LGAs/LCDAs actively involved in waste management will go a long way. This third tier of government will help drill in sensitization, implementation, and disciplinary measures of proper waste disposal.
“Similarly, monetization of deposition of recyclable wastes will incentivize people to properly dispose of their wastes. With better incentives for waste collection, the PSPs will even compete to “hunt” for wastes,” Lawal added.
But, Adebola argued that the challenges are far beyond incentivizing PSP operators monetary. According to him, cost of operations is high and Lagosians are not will to pay cost-reflective tariff. “And that cost-reflective tariff must be enforced. It must be implemented. And people must brace up to pay more.
“For instance, a Tokunbo truck that used to be sold at N8 million; N10 million – is now being sold for between N55 million and N60 million,” Adebola added.
