₦airaland Forum

By Sam Adurogboye

The Lagos Waste Management Authority is the primary state agency responsible for managing solid waste, including collection, transportation, and disposal, to ensure a cleaner and healthier environment in Lagos State.

This agency was established in 1977 to handle domestic, industrial, and commercial waste, enforce environmental laws, and promote recycling initiatives.

As background, LAWMA operates from Iddo Yard, Ijora Olopa, and provides services in waste disposal, drain clearing, and the management of derelict vehicles.

The key functions and services of LAWMA are as follows:

Waste collection and disposal: Manages the daily collection and disposal of household and industrial waste, including medical and hazardous waste.

Regulatory oversight: Enforces environmental laws and standards, including policing against illegal dumping and penalising non-compliance

Commercial services: Provides waste management services to business and commercial entities.

Public education and awareness: Promotes environmental sustainability through public outreach programmes, educating residents on waste reduction, sorting, and recycling.

Recycling initiatives: [/b]Drives waste reduction by encouraging the separation of waste and supporting recycling programmes.

[b]Infrastructure management: Maintains landfill sites and facilities for effective waste disposal.

Consultancy: Offering waste management expertise to other Nigerian states and African countries.

Going through the above key roles and functions of LAWMA as enshrined in its enabling statute, ordinarily, one would have expected this agency to have risen up to its mandates. Contrary is the case in Lagos, particularly in today’s Lagos.

This writer is motivated to do this report based on an eyewitness account as of February 19, 2026. A drive through all the major city roads will confirm the unhealthy state of Lagos with respect to the failure of LAWMA to clean up the city. We currently have an overflow of refuse from streets to streets and from market areas through to highways. The worst hit are the market areas. Is stinking. Who Do Us?

Concerning the number function of the Lagos Waste Management Authority, the outcome is absolute failure. The collection and disposal, where it is being done, is poor and not regular. The experience in most places has been absolute abandonment. Refuse has not been collected in the Jibowu area of Abule Egba for two months running. Payment has been made ahead of the month. LAWMA served the resident bi-monthly. You dare not paid and there is no alternative.

Citizens are left helpless with no alternative. LAWMA is a government monopoly foisted on the citizens.

Let’s take it that the state’s number one citizen lives on the Island, but the second and the third, i.e. deputy governor and the speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, reside in the highbrow estate in Agege. I mean Agege. They drive through from their place of abode to the office, and I don’t want to believe that these personalities are not aware of the current unkempt state of the city. Who will help us out with this?

LAWMA also has a regulatory oversight role, i.e. enforcement of environmental laws as one of its functions. What a contradiction. For an agency created to make the city and the entire state clean, but has been failing to acquit itself successfully. How could it have enforced the laws they have been breaking? Who is regulating this regulator? This is one area the Lagos State House of Assembly should have performed its oversight roles on the state Agency, but to say they have been failing is also saying the obvious. LAWMA may have been collecting refuse in the Big Ogas Estate, but should the governed be left helpless?

Interestingly, LAWMA serves its bills regularly, and residents must pay whether or not it comes to collect the refuse. They have ready-made excuses for their failures. Bad road to sites. Raining seasons. Vehicle breakdown. As if they didn’t know all these while canvassing for the contract.

In the face of these failures, LAWMA increased their fees using the inflationary trend as a yardstick. Do we blame them? No. Their oppressive conduct is legalised through the government’s failure to give the citizens an alternative.

The question on the lips of Lagosians now is, who will save us from this LAWMA-induced imminent epidemic?

https://punchng.com/who-will-save-lagosians-from-lawma-and-the-imminent-epidemic/

Can't some Lagosians also stop dropping their waste on the street most especially the market areas.

Some houses are not interested in paying lawma money yet expecting them to pick up their trashes

LAWMA's efficiency level is very low.

Lagos is dirty, Tokunbo is only doing PR, Nlfpmod, we are all living in dirt.

This is one area where Sanwoolu is underperforming. The filth and rubbish around Lagos is alarming. Some estates now experience backlog of up to a month before waste collection is done.

I think LAWMA is overwhelmed ,more private firms should be granted license and house to house inspection of waste disposal compliance should be enforced .

In the paradise of a city a certain man built from scratch?... This is an ADC sponsored post

Sanwo olu has failed woefully in this aspect. He should ask his predecessors especially Fashola how he handled waste waste management. It's been 4 months since they came around.

I've made several posts about how dirty Lagos has become but all I got was hate speech from yarimo, seunmsg and madridguy.

Oya somebody don re-echoe am let's see what tinubu supporters I mentioned above would say this time .

Since October of last year, LAWMA has not collected waste in my area.
But wait!
Did I hear you say Lagos creates horrible smell and terrible stench?
You are damn right!

[LAWMA serves its bills regularly, and residents must pay whether or not it comes to collect the refuse]




What's the difference with dem and nepa,
U must pay ur nepa bill weda it's jus minutes of electricity u get a day,
I hope the government are reading nairaland comments cos one day go be one day,
That thing wey government dey fear for make e no happen go happen

Haha funny people u want the ungodly to value cleanliness? Cleanliness and godliness go together

When u make money thw number 1 thing in life people will see payment for everything and where everything is being paid for then nothing will be done from the heart. We must change our evil mentality that takes money as everything

The new gov of lagos
Should ensure waste management anyone can invest in it allow free entry Lawma can’t control 20m plus people waste

Open more refuse site in Badagry ikorodu Berger sango otta Epe

Each house should be paying waste fee compulsory and waste should be carried every 10 days compulsory

During Fashola time, there was no dirt at all. The whole dirtiness started from Ambode whose wife took over the work of LAWMA, during that time all the private refuse disposal went underground. Don't blame the citizens at all, they were paying, even you can't find dirt in any street in Lagos during Fashola time, Lawma was very, very effective, everything was wel organized and there was no odour in Lagos. I will give this present government of Sanwolu 1/100 in waste management. Imagine dirt along the express way, the last time I saw this kind of situation was during Abacha time.

Lagos has the resources to make a modern waste recycling system plant in all the LGAs whereby waste can be converted to industrial raw materials,energy, and bio-fuel/gas, even fertilizer. Lagos has a population of over 20Million which of course is an asset depending on the smartness Nd intelligence of who is leading Lagos especially that department of waste management. The high population transform into high waste generation and from that point, there's assurance of regular waste to propel the waste recycling plant. Lagos can even be importing waste from other states and be converting it into energy, bio gas, fertilizer and industrial raw materials.... Lagos is missing it big time as a pioneer state in Nigeria.... Lagos population is an asset, the large waste generation is a bigger asset, the Atlantic Ocean and the Lagos lagoon is an asset, talk less of the oil and gas offshore benefit. How about the companies, both international and local companies, the entertainment industry, the hospitality businesses etc...fund to execute great projects isn't the wahala obviously...So what's your problem Lagos?

Eko ti pada ko eranko mo eyan

Stop de-marketing Lagos. Tinubu has built Lagos long ago, with serenity and beauty. You can't see open defecation, mountains of refuse etc.

Lagos is the cleanest place on earth. Go verfy from APC miscreants

Tinubu destroyed Lagos now he's destroying Nigeria.

Lagos is filthy and stinking. It is terrible

Lagos is overcrowded and other state government need to develop their state to stop mass migration to Lagos and let have some semblance of serenity the same set of ingrate that leave their deprived region to come and overstretch our infrastructure and pollute the environment will be the first to tell us Lagos is smelly and yet when you ask they to go back home and develop their state, they will be crying……we need to bring back monthly environmental sanitation

How will u pay for what u dnt eat? How will u pay bill and those LAWMA won't come to takeaway the waste bags. A house will pay their bills but those thieves won't minus it.They'll still join it and expect you to pay.I heard this stuff anytime i visit 9JA..Government should withdraw the license they gave those Lawma

tubolancer:
During Fashola time, there was no dirt at all. The whole dirtiness started from Ambode whose wife took over the work of LAWMA, during that time all the private refuse disposal went underground. Don't blame the citizens at all, they were paying, even you can't find dirt in any street in Lagos during Fashola time, Lawma was very, very effective, everything was wel organized and there was no odour in Lagos. I will give this present government of Sanwolu 1/100 in waste management. Imagine dirt along the express way, the last time I saw this kind of situation was during Abacha time.

You are a true lagos blood. The moment Amode scrapped the private sector arm of waste collection and tried to bring his own everything collapsed. The blame is on Ambode and the citizen no try, eg jakande and bucknor side for example if they pack the refuge by 2pm before 9am the next morning the whole place is stuffed with dirts again. They need to allow more private investors to come in.

Tvegas:
This is one area where Sanwoolu is underperforming.

The filth and rubbish around Lagos is alarming. Some estates now experience backlog of up to a month before waste collection is done.

In what area is this implementation officer of Tinubu's progressive governance master plan performing?

Definitely not in the provision of free education for all children since he has failed to recruit as many as the 19,500 teachers employed by PDP's Makinde in five years.

Do you think he has performed well in the provision of water to all households, seeing as posh Lekki people and other Lagosians are getting kwashiorkor pot bellies from drinking smelling, shithole water




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5v-F81hNTs

keemsleek:
You are a true lagos blood. The moment Amode scrapped the private sector arm of waste collection and tried to bring his own everything collapsed. The blame is on Ambode and the citizen no try, eg jakande and bucknor side for example if they pack the refuge by 2pm before 9am the next morning the whole place is stuffed with dirts again.

They need to allow more private investors to come in.

Why pay private investors to pack refuse after paying taxes to local and state governments with the LGAs getting 20% of federal allocation since 2024?

What kind of double loss is that?
What manner of double jeopardy is that

Ambode was on the brink of fixing the waste disposal issue in Lagos and had actually started before the godfather's ego was bruised and he ended up not getting a second term as governor

iwaeda:
Lagos is dirty, Tokunbo is only doing PR, Nlfpmod, we are all living in dirt.

I think people need to start paying lawma.
That will make it efficient

Sanwolu really messed up here
Fashola and Ambode really tried back then...

sigmax:
I think LAWMA is overwhelmed ,more private firms should be granted license and house to house inspection of waste disposal compliance should be enforced .

ambode came with visionscape, they killed it because he did not make it to second tenure.