Garbage has piled up in streets, markets, medians and drainage channels across Lagos State for the past five months. Residents who pay monthly collection fees say the trucks aren’t coming. Nigeria’s commercial capital has long sold itself to investors and tourists as a clean, safe gateway to West Africa. The rubbish tells another story.
The mess stretches across the city. Refuse is visible in Mushin, Ebute Metta, Agege, Egbeda, Idimu, Ojuelegba, 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. In some areas, waste spills onto roads and blocks drainage channels, obstructing motorists, pedestrians and businesses.
A System Built on Paid Contracts
Lagos runs its waste system as a partnership. The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) sets policy and supervises the system, while accredited Private Sector Participants (PSPs) collect household and commercial waste in assigned districts. Operators must collect from residential properties at least once a week. Residents and property owners pay monthly service charges for that work.
Many say they’re paying for a service they don’t receive. Residents in several parts of the city report missed collections lasting weeks or months.
Operators point to rising costs. PSPs cite diesel prices, vehicle maintenance and long trips to disposal sites. State authorities have acknowledged operational bottlenecks, underperforming operators and truck shortages. The article also reports that many operators’ evacuation trucks are in poor condition and break down frequently. It says Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources Tokunbo Wahab and LAWMA fail to monitor contractors properly.
The Government Response
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu recently ordered 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. He also urged residents to dispose of waste properly and avoid dumping it in drainage channels or on roads.
Conditions, the article says, appeared unchanged. The government has also tried to clear refuse black spots and brought back monthly sanitation exercises. But for residents staring at overflowing bins, a temporary operational problem can look much like systemic failure.
Wahab responded to criticism from Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the 2027 governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). He acknowledged that residents hadn’t received satisfactory collection services, but disputed the claim that the response amounted to emergency evacuation alone. Delays at disposal facilities, he said, can slow truck turnaround, disrupt collection schedules and leave refuse piling up in neighbourhoods.
He described a broader restructuring plan: modern transfer loading stations, material recovery facilities, recycling, composting and the Epe waste-to-energy project. The state is also tightening contractor oversight with property enumeration, geocoded service locations, GPS tracking, weighbridge measurements, collection records and recovery data. Operators found underperforming face sanctions or termination, Wahab said.
An Old Problem Returns
It’s a familiar story. Lagos faced a similar crisis in the 2015–2019 period, when major roads, markets and drainage channels became dumping grounds. In 2017, then Governor Akinwunmi Ambode brought in Visionscape to modernise waste collection and evacuation across the state, nine years before today. The arrangement became caught up in waste-management politics. Visionscape struggled to meet expectations, refuse remained piled up, and LAWMA personnel were unhappy after their role was significantly reduced. Months before the 2019 elections, Ambode still grappled with the problem.
The job is enormous. Lagos generates between 13,000 and 15,000 tonnes of municipal waste daily, according to Wahab.
Health Risks
The costs aren’t only aesthetic. Accumulated waste breeds rats, flies, cockroaches and mosquitoes, which can contribute to the spread of malaria, cholera and typhoid. Sharp objects and contaminated materials can cause injuries and infections. Rain can wash waste into rivers, wells and other water sources, while chemicals from refuse can contaminate soil. Open burning releases smoke and pollutants that can aggravate respiratory conditions.
What Reform Would Take
The article argues that the problem isn’t just the refuse on the streets; it’s also the system that lets it stay there. In a city of Lagos’ size and ambitions, waste collection must be routine, predictable and accountable, not a crisis response. Other densely populated cities show that population alone doesn’t make effective waste management impossible. Financing, operator monitoring, infrastructure maintenance and consequences for failing contractors all matter.
It calls for transparent monitoring and adequate financing, contracts tied to measurable performance, and accountability for operators paid to deliver. Reasonable service charges linked to visible improvements could help sustain the system, while private investment and external partnerships could support larger infrastructure projects. The incentive has to change, the article says, so the city doesn’t wait for streets to disappear beneath refuse before trucks arrive.
Why This Matters:
Lagos already uses the private-contractor model many reformers favor, yet residents pay fees for collections that don’t happen. That points to a gap between hiring private operators and holding them accountable. Wahab’s promised GPS tracking, weighbridge records and contract terminations are the kind of performance-based discipline that makes outsourcing work, but they’ve yet to produce results on the streets. The stakes go beyond smell and litter. Blocked drains and tainted water raise health risks, and a city selling itself to investors can’t afford a reputation for uncollected trash. Residents are being asked to keep paying while the state asks for patience. Continued payment will likely depend on visible service.