Waste Crisis: Sanwo-Olu Declares State of Emergency, Deploys More Personnel

...to inject 160 New Compactors,

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has declared what he described as a “small state of emergency” on waste management, as the state battles mounting pressure on waste collection and indiscriminate dumping across the metropolis.

During an inspection of the Olusosun landfill in Ojota on Wednesday, Sanwo-Olu unveiled short-, medium- and long-term measures to clear the current waste backlog.

The governor said the state government had ordered 160 new compactor trucks to address gaps in waste collection, while additional landfill compactors were also being procured.

The state is also constructing two new 2,400-metric-tonne Transfer Loading Stations at Olusosun and Solu 3 in Alimosho, in partnership with development partner Zoomlion.

According to Sanwo-Olu, the facilities will receive compacted waste before transferring it to Material Recovery Sites being developed at Oke Osho in Epe and Erikitte in Badagry.

“What we are seeing at Olusosun is a typical sight of the challenge. We are here to see what the problem is and to clearly declare a small state of emergency so that we can get out of this very unpleasant situation.”

The governor said the state hopes to have four active dump sites — Olusosun, Solu 3, Iwulepe and Oke Osho — within six weeks, with a fifth site at Erikitte, Badagry.

He said the measures are expected to reduce waste truck turnaround time from as long as 12 hours to just a few hours by providing disposal options closer to collection points.

Sanwo-Olu also called for greater compliance by residents with payment for waste collection services, saying:

“Lagosians in particular, we just want service. We don’t want to pay for this service. I think this era has to stop. It’s so unfair to see people rendering service and people are not paying them.”

The governor said the combination of new trucks, additional disposal sites, transfer stations and reforms in the Private Sector Participants (PSP) system would help address Lagos’ waste generation, disposal and conversion challenges.