₦airaland Forum

Tomorrow morning between 6:30am and 8:30am, we begin a new chapter in our collective journey toward a cleaner Lagos. The monthly environmental sanitation exercise returns, and I am calling on every resident to come out and participate actively.

Let me address the confusion some have tried to create. No court pronouncement has invalidated this exercise. The State proceeded to the Court of Appeal, and judgment was delivered in our favour. The Court affirmed that the laws used for the implementation and enforcement of environmental sanitation are legitimate and constitutional. So disregard those who choose to mislead the public.

We have planned this for over a year. We have thought it through. We cannot keep complaining about dirty surroundings and blaming government while shirking our own responsibilities. The care of our environment is a collaborative project between government and citizens.

Major transport unions controlling about 90% of vehicles on our roads have pledged not to deploy their vehicles from major parks during the sanitation window. If government vehicles are staying put, what will it cost us to stay home for just two hours to clean our environment?

We are not unreasonable. Exceptions exist for emergencies, scheduled flights, and students writing JAMB exams. LAWMA has been fully mobilized to evacuate waste generated. Environmental health officers will monitor properties, and defaulters will be served abatement notices.

Tomorrow, let us show Lagos and the world that we are ready to take ownership of our environment. Two hours. One Saturday each month. A cleaner, healthier, flood-free Lagos for all of us.

#LagosSanitationExercise #CleanerLagos

Tomorrow morning between 6:30am and 8:30am, we begin a new chapter in our collective journey toward a cleaner Lagos. The monthly environmental sanitation exercise returns, and I am calling on every resident to come out and participate actively.

Let me address the confusion some… pic.twitter.com/EIivy2pjVn

— Tokunbo Wahab (@tokunbo_wahab) April 24, 2026

Shutting down a city of 20 million people to clean their immediate environment is parochial and lacks imagination.

For emphasis: the issue is not so much about cleaning your environment (which is great) but the logistics of waste management - starting from the collection, to disposal and recycling.

Anything short of rethinking this system is cosmetic and unimaginative.

@GRVlagos let me respectfully disagree.

Shutting down a city of over 20 million people is not what we are doing. We are asking residents to dedicate one hundred and twenty minutes, once every thirty days, to clean their immediate surroundings. That is not a shutdown. That is called taking responsibility.

I agree completely that waste management logistics, from collection to disposal to recycling, are critical. That is why we have spent the past year strengthening those very systems. We have banned single use plastics, we are converting Olusosun landfill to energy, we are deploying biogas facilities in our markets, we are partnering with Lafarge to turn waste into valuable resources, and we are empowering young innovators with technology to improve sanitation access. These are not cosmetic actions. They are structural changes to how Lagos manages waste.

But here is what I also know. No system of waste management, no matter how sophisticated, will succeed if citizens refuse to take basic responsibility for their environment. You cannot complain about flooding while dumping refuse in drains. You cannot demand a cleaner city while sweeping waste into the road. You cannot blame government for a dirty environment when you are unwilling to clean the front of your own house.

The monthly sanitation exercise is not a substitute for systemic reform. It is a complement to it. It is about rebuilding a culture of environmental stewardship that has been lost over time. Technology and infrastructure alone cannot save a city whose people have abandoned personal responsibility.

We welcome objective criticism that offers solutions. But dismissing a civic exercise as unimaginative, while offering no alternative path to citizen participation, does not move us forward.

#LagosSanitationExercise

Your response is quite appreciated, Mr Commissioner.

However, your “strengthening logistics via PSP” claim doesn’t hold. LAWMA terminated 22–27 PSP operators in 2025 alone for failing basic waste collection, while residents still report irregular services despite paying.

Recall that the 2016 Cleaner Lagos Initiative (PSP overhaul) collapsed at scale due to chronic under-capacity, payment breakdowns, and performative enforcement.

The system was never built for 13k–20k tonnes/day, let alone sanitation-day surges that overwhelm trucks. The number of LAWMA intervention trucks cannot guarantee immediate evacuation which then turns this exercise into a net environmental negative because swept waste clogs channels faster than it can be cleared.

Eko a gbe wa o!

@GRVlagos some have argued, just like you did, that monthly environmental sanitation is not meaning. Let me respectfully disagree.

Shutting down a city of over 20 million people is not what we are doing. We are asking residents to dedicate one-hundred-and-twenty-minutes, once every thirty days, to clean their immediate surroundings. That is not a shutdown. That is called taking responsibility!

Monthly sanitation matters because it reinforces five important principles;

• First, it reminds every household and business that environmental responsibility begins at the source.
• Second, it helps keep frontage drains, setbacks, markets, streets, and neighbourhood spaces clear before waste becomes a larger nuisance.
• Third, it provides a predictable window for inspection, advocacy, and enforcement.
• Fourth, it strengthens community ownership, because government alone cannot clean up after millions of people every day.
• Fifth, it supports the wider waste-management chain by encouraging proper bagging, containerisation, PSP patronage, payment compliance, and a reduction in indiscriminate dumping.

I agree completely that waste management logistics, from collection to disposal to recycling, are critical. That is why we have spent the past year strengthening those very systems. We have banned single use plastics, we are converting Olusosun landfill to energy, we are deploying biogas facilities in our markets, we are partnering with Lafarge to turn waste into valuable resources, and we are empowering young innovators with technology to improve sanitation access. These are not cosmetic actions. They are structural changes to how Lagos manages waste.

But here is what I also know. No system of waste management, no matter how sophisticated, will succeed if citizens refuse to take basic responsibility for their environment. You cannot complain about flooding while dumping refuse in drains. You cannot demand a cleaner city while sweeping waste into the road. You cannot blame government for a dirty environment when you are unwilling to clean the front of your own house.

The monthly sanitation exercise is not a substitute for systemic reform. It is a complement to it. It is about rebuilding a culture of environmental stewardship that has been lost over time. Technology and infrastructure alone cannot save a city whose people have abandoned personal responsibility.

We welcome objective criticism that offers solutions. But dismissing a civic exercise as unimaginative, while offering no alternative path to citizen participation, does not move us forward.

A cleaner Lagos will not be built by government alone. It will be built by systems, discipline, enforcement, infrastructure, and citizens doing the right thing consistently.

#LagosSanitationExercise #CleanerLagos

GRV justified Monday sit at home.

Same GRV has problems with 2 hours environmental sanitation.

Una problem for that Lagos be say una like explanation too much.

naptu2:
Ifedayo (JIMCRUZ) @ifedayo_johnson



https://x.com/i/status/2047908508742344917

No Court Stopped Saturday Environmental Sanitation, Lagos Declares

By Abdul-hafeez Fadehan
April 24, 2026

The Lagos State Government has dismissed reports suggesting a court has stopped the reintroduced Saturday environmental sanitation exercise, insisting no judicial order exists barring the programme.

In a Friday statement posted on X, the Commissioner, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, explained that the Court affirmed that the laws used for the implementation and enforcement of environmental sanitation are legitimate and constitutional.

According to him, the State Government proceeded to the Court of Appeal, and a judgment was delivered in its favour.

The statement reads, “Tomorrow morning between 6:30 am and 8:30 am, we begin a new chapter in our collective journey toward a cleaner Lagos. The monthly environmental sanitation exercise returns, and I am calling on every resident to come out and participate actively.

“Let me address the confusion some have tried to create. No court pronouncement has invalidated this exercise. The State proceeded to the Court of Appeal, and judgment was delivered in our favour. The Court affirmed that the laws used for the implementation and enforcement of environmental sanitation are legitimate and constitutional. So disregard those who choose to mislead the public.”

Wahab further clarified that the exercise scheduled for Saturday came after public complaints and a year-long planning to tackle the dirty surroundings.

He added, “We have planned this for over a year. We have thought it through. We cannot keep complaining about dirty surroundings and blaming the government while shirking our own responsibilities. The care of our environment is a collaborative project between government and citizens.”

The Commissioner further disclosed that transport unions have pledged not to deploy vehicles from major parks during the sanitation window.

“Major transport unions controlling about 90% of vehicles on our roads have pledged not to deploy their vehicles from major parks during the sanitation window. If government vehicles are staying put, what will it cost us to stay home for just two hours to clean our environment?” he questioned.

Wahab also noted that exceptions for vehicular restrictions were for candidates writing UTME exams, saying, “We are not unreasonable. Exceptions exist for emergencies, scheduled flights, and students writing JAMB exams.”

He disclosed that, “LAWMA has been fully mobilised to evacuate waste generated. Environmental health officers will monitor properties, and defaulters will be served abatement notices.”

“Tomorrow, let us show Lagos and the world that we are ready to take ownership of our environment. Two hours. One Saturday each month. A cleaner, healthier, flood-free Lagos for all of us,” he concluded.

WizardOfNG:
100% behind this initiative. Anyone who loves Lagos and live her reality will know this environmental sanitation exercise is long overdue as an action plan to rid Lagos of filth caused by a refusal of Lagosians to be mindful and responsible.

It is also badly needed as an orientation exercise to get some of the dirtiest and most irresponsible people in the world to begin taking conscious charge of the cleanliness of their immediate environment.

Lagos, a megacity of over 20 million people and, needs the inculcation of a culture and mindset that will provoke the awareness "cleanliness is next to Godliness".

When Government allow people to disregard, desecrate and damage where they live then environmental damage, that may be permanent, is the result.

naptu2:
Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour @GRVlagos



https://x.com/i/status/2047762304737923549

Tomorrow morning between 6:30am and 8:30am, we begin a new chapter in our collective journey toward a cleaner Lagos. The monthly environmental sanitation exercise returns, and I am calling on every resident to come out and participate actively.

Let me address the confusion some… pic.twitter.com/EIivy2pjVn

— Tokunbo Wahab (@tokunbo_wahab) April 24, 2026

100% behind this initiative. Anyone who loves Lagos and live her reality will know this environmental sanitation exercise is long overdue as an action plan to rid Lagos of filth caused by a refusal of Lagosians to be mindful and responsible.

It is also badly needed as an orientation exercise to get some of the dirtiest and most irresponsible people in the world to begin taking conscious charge of the cleanliness of their immediate environment

Lagos, a megacity of over 20 million people and, needs the inculcation of a culture and mindset that will provoke the awareness "cleanliness is next to Godliness".

When Government allow people to disregard, desecrate and damage where they live then environmental damage, that may be permanent, is the result.