The Lagos State Government has announced plans to deploy an additional 220 trucks to strengthen waste evacuation across the state.
Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat disclosed this on Saturday while speaking with journalists during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Festac, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area.
The planned deployment comes about two months after Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced that the state would receive 150 compactor trucks to improve waste management.
Hamzat explained that the additional trucks would complement the existing Private Sector Participation (PSP) waste collection system and help the government cope with the increasing volume of refuse generated daily.
“The state government will be bringing in another 220 trucks to make sure that we supplement our PSP. What we need our people to also do is to make sure that they patronise their PSP, not the cart pushers, because they are not organised. You don’t know where the waste is ending up,” he said.
The deputy governor attributed the rising quantity of waste in Lagos partly to the state’s growing population, noting that more people living and working in the state inevitably translates to increased waste generation.
“A lot of people are coming to Lagos, and therefore they generate waste. So part of what you can see that we are doing is that we are getting many more trucks to actually go and evacuate,” he said.
Hamzat also called on residents to take greater responsibility for proper waste disposal, warning that dumping refuse in canals and drainage channels could block water flow and increase the risk of flooding.
He encouraged communities to organise regular sanitation exercises, with the government targeting at least one community-led cleanup every month.
“We cannot be a people without a healthy environment. It doesn’t matter what we do, a cleaner environment is what makes a city or a state sustainable,” he said.
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The deputy governor urged residents to use approved waste disposal channels and continue playing an active role in keeping their neighbourhoods clean.
Speaking specifically about environmental management in Festac, Hamzat noted that the Federal Housing Authority has responsibilities in the area but stressed that residents and property managers must still comply with Lagos State’s environmental regulations.
He commended the local government chairman and residents for participating in the sanitation exercise, describing community involvement as essential to maintaining cleanliness across the state.
Also speaking, Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, said the state had recorded improvements in waste management through the deployment of 24-hour emergency response teams and interventions aimed at resolving challenges at landfills and dumpsites.
Wahab said the government had increased its engagement with PSP operators to strengthen waste collection services. He added that the state had intervened in areas where the Lagos State Waste Management Authority would ordinarily not operate.
According to the commissioner, the government had assured PSP operators of its backing while expecting residents to pay for waste collection services under the polluter-pays principle.
He said the approach was designed to ensure that waste operators had the necessary support while residents received the services they were paying for.
Wahab further disclosed that Lagos was gradually moving away from the conventional system of collecting waste and dumping it elsewhere towards a circular waste management model, where discarded materials are recovered and transformed into useful resources.
He said the transition had resulted in the establishment of material recovery facilities in Badagry and Epe, alongside transfer stations located at Soluyi and Olusosun.
On the activities of cart pushers, Wahab said the government was engaging with them but would avoid policies that could create additional environmental or security problems.
He explained that investigations had shown that some cart pushers dumped collected waste in drainage channels and road medians, thereby worsening sanitation problems and contributing to flooding.
The commissioner also raised concerns over reports connecting some cart pushers with criminal activities, including the theft and cutting of metals.
He maintained that the government could not adopt an approach to waste collection that might inadvertently aggravate security challenges across Lagos.