Lagos: A Megacity Drowning in Refuse

For a city that prides itself as Nigeria’s megacity and the gateway to West Africa, large parts of Lagos State tell a different story as the streets, markets, medians and drainage channels are littered with refuse, and heaps of uncollected garbage, raising environmental and public health concerns, writes Davidson Iriekpen 

Lagos, the economic and commercial hub of Nigeria, has long been marketed as a megacity, one that has all the attractions for investors and tourists to live in, from a safe and clean environment to better transportation. 

However, if that reputation is to be judged by the waste management crisis in the state over the past five months, the state will be relegated to a jungle.

One need not look far to see the uncleanliness. From Mushin, Ebute Metta, Agege, Egbeda, Idimu and Ojuelegba to Mile 2, Orile, Apapa, Okokomaiko, Ajah, parts of Lekki, Lawanson, Ikeja, Bariga, Surulere, Agegunle, Boundary, Ojo, Ikorodu, Festac Town, Satellite Town, Ikotun, Oshodi, Iyana-Iba, Alaba, Isolo and Abule Egba, garbage decorates streets and road medians.

The decomposing refuse brings offensive odours and environmental hazards, but the problem is no longer just an eyesore.

 In some areas, waste is spilt onto the roads and they blocked drainage channels, obstructing motorists, pedestrians and businesses while exposing residents to potential health risks.

Lagos’ waste management system operates through a partnership between the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and accredited Private Sector Participants (PSPs). LAWMA oversees policy and supervision, while private operators are assigned specific districts and local government areas to collect household and commercial waste.

Operators are expected to collect refuse from residential properties at least once a week, with residents and property owners paying monthly service charges for the service. But across several parts of the city, that system appears to have broken down. Residents have reported missed collections lasting weeks or even months despite paying for the service.

PSP operators have pointed to rising diesel costs, vehicle maintenance and the long distances to disposal sites. State authorities, meanwhile, have acknowledged operational bottlenecks, underperforming operators and shortages of trucks.

 The government has responded with efforts to clear refuse black spots and reintroduced monthly sanitation exercises.

However, for residents staring at overflowing bins, the distinction between a temporary operational problem and a systemic failure is difficult to make.

The situation has inevitably revived memories of the 2015–2019 period, when Lagos battled a similar waste crisis. Major roads, markets and drainage channels became dumping grounds as the state’s waste management system struggled with infrastructure and operational bottlenecks.

Months before the 2019 elections, the then Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was grappling with the problem. His administration had brought in Visionscape in 2017 to modernise waste collection and evacuation across the state.

The arrangement, however, soon became embroiled in the complexities of Lagos’ waste management politics. As the new operator struggled to meet expectations, the mountains of refuse remained. LAWMA personnel, whose role had been significantly reduced under the new arrangement, were themselves unhappy with the development, while residents were left to contend with an increasingly filthy city.

Today, that sense of helplessness remains.

The scale of the problem seems significant. Lagos generates between 13,000 and 15,000 tonnes of municipal waste daily, according to Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab.

One area Wahab and LAWMA are seriously failing is their inability to properly monitor PSP operators. For a majority of them, their trucks for the evacuation of wastes are in bad conditions and thereby susceptible to frequent breakdown. This in most cases, impede their performance and effectiveness.

The consequences are dire. Accumulated waste provides breeding grounds for disease vectors such as rats, flies, cockroaches and mosquitoes, which can contribute to the spread of diseases including malaria, cholera and typhoid. Sharp objects and contaminated materials can also cause injuries and infections.

When the rains fall, the problem can become even more dangerous. Waste can be washed into rivers, wells and other water sources, while chemicals from refuse can contaminate the soil. Open burning of waste releases smoke and other pollutants that can aggravate respiratory conditions and other health risks.

The state government had acknowledged the seriousness of the situation and moved to address the immediate backlog but nothing seems to have changed.

Recently, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu directed an immediate scale-up of waste evacuation across Lagos, saying LAWMA, the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) and the Ministry of Environment were working around the clock.

“We have deployed extra trucks and personnel to clear the backlogs across all affected neighbourhoods. You should already see progress on the streets, and we will not stop until our city is completely clean again,” he said

The governor urged the residents to help the state in the cleanup by properly disposing of their waste and avoiding dumping refuse in drainage channels or on the roads

Responding to criticism of the state’s waste management and flood control measures by the 2027 governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, Wahab acknowledged that residents had not received satisfactory waste collection services but disputed the suggestion that the government’s response was limited to emergency evacuation.

He explained that the waste management chain depended on the efficiency of several interconnected stages. Delays at disposal facilities, he said, could slow truck turnaround, disrupt collection schedules and ultimately leave refuse piling up in neighbourhoods.

According to Wahab, Lagos is pursuing a broader restructuring of the waste management system through modern transfer loading stations, material recovery facilities, recycling, composting and the Epe waste-to-energy project.

The state is also strengthening its monitoring of waste contractors through property enumeration, geocoded service locations, GPS tracking, weighbridge measurements, collection records and recovery data. Operators found to be underperforming, he said, face sanctions or termination.

These measures matter because the fundamental problem is not the mountains of refuse already on the streets. It is the system that allows them to remain there.

For a city of the size and ambitions of Lagos, waste collection cannot function as a crisis response. It has to be routine, predictable and accountable.

Other densely populated cities have demonstrated that population alone does not make effective waste management impossible. What matters is the system: How it is financed, how operators are monitored, how infrastructure is maintained and what happens when contractors fail to deliver.

Waste management must therefore be transparently monitored and properly financed. It should not be subjected to politics. Contracts should be tied to measurable performance, with operators held accountable for the services they are paid to provide. Reasonable service charges, clearly linked to visible improvements, can help sustain the system, while private investment and external partnerships can support larger infrastructure projects.

Most importantly, the incentive must change. Lagos should not have to wait for streets to disappear beneath mountains of refuse before the trucks arrive. It has to prevent the crisis from happening.