Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, has announced plans to restructure the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), with more personnel to be deployed to the streets, roads and dumpsites as part of efforts to address the state’s growing waste management challenges.

Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu announced the planned restructuring during an inspection tour of the Olusosun dumpsite in Ojota, Lagos, where he assessed the operational challenges confronting waste collection and disposal in the state.

The governor said LAWMA required a complete diagnosis of its organisational structure, arguing that the agency needed to strengthen its operational presence rather than have senior officials concentrated in offices.

“Almost immediately I will need to restructure the entire organisational structure of LAWMA. We have to put more people on operations. We have to put more people on the streets and on the road, not in air-conditioned offices,” he said.

He added: “It’s Lagos State Waste Management. Waste is outside on the street, it is not in their offices. And so we are using this to tell them that it’s also coming on them.”

Sanwo-Olu said the move was part of a broader intervention by his administration to address mounting pressure on the state’s waste management system, which he described as requiring a small state of emergency.

“We are here, as well, to see what the problem is and for us to clearly declare what we call a small state of emergency,” he said.

The governor said the state had begun implementing measures aimed at improving the turnaround time of waste collection trucks and reducing the pressure on Olusosun, which currently receives between 250 and 280 trucks daily.

He said the government was working to increase Olusosun’s capacity to between 350 and 450 trucks by improving its tipping points, while also activating additional disposal sites across the state.

According to him, the government plans to have Olusosun, Solus 3 in Alimosho, Ewu Elepe in Ikorodu, Okiosho in Epe and Erikiiti in Badagry operating as additional waste-receiving locations.

He said the move would ensure that waste trucks no longer had to converge on one location, thereby reducing the time spent by trucks on the roads and at dumpsites.

Sanwo-Olu said work was also ongoing at Solus 3, where road stabilisation was required before the facility could resume receiving waste.

“We believe that we will be ready for receiving waste maybe in another two or three weeks, because the road stabilization needs to happen from this weekend,” he said.

He also disclosed that the state had ordered 160 new compactor trucks to increase the capacity of waste collection from homes and roads to disposal points.

According to him, additional compactor trucks were also being considered by Zoom Lion and private sector participation operators to further strengthen the collection system.

The governor said the government would also procure landfill compactors to improve operations at disposal sites.

Beyond the immediate measures, Sanwo-Olu said the state was developing transfer loading stations and Material Recovery Facilities as part of its long-term waste management strategy.

He said two transfer loading stations would receive compacted waste before it would be transported to Material Recovery Facilities being developed at Okiosho in Epe and Erikiiti in Badagry.

According to him, the facilities would enable waste to be further separated into different streams for recovery and processing.

Sanwo-Olu said the projects involved investments running into tens of millions of dollars and would form part of the state’s long-term strategy for addressing waste generation, disposal and conversion.

He said physical development of the facilities would become visible by the end of the year, while completion was expected around the first quarter of next year.

The governor also announced plans to review the operations of private sector waste collectors in the state, saying the Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators must demonstrate the capacity and willingness to make further investments in waste management.

He said the PSP association had agreed to assess its membership to determine operators that were still effective and capable of delivering services.

“We just don’t want to have 800 PSPs when it is actually only 400 that is effective,” Sanwo-Olu said, adding that the review would create room for more capable investors to enter the sector.

He said the PSP operators had also indicated their willingness to procure additional trucks, while the state government would consider ways of supporting their financing arrangements to ensure that the investments remained sustainable.

The governor further appealed to Lagos residents to pay for waste collection services, saying the era of expecting waste management services without paying for them should end.

He said residents also had a responsibility to ensure that waste was properly disposed of, warning against dumping refuse on highways, roads and drainage channels.

Sanwo-Olu announced that more environmental officers would be deployed to monitor waste management activities and enforce environmental regulations.

He warned that residents who dump refuse indiscriminately would face sanctions, including prosecution before mobile courts.

“The fact that the PSP has not turned up in your house within twenty-four hours doesn’t mean that you have the right to now go and dump the refuse on the highway, on the main road,” he said.

The governor said the state would also take action against individuals and businesses found to be constituting environmental nuisance, including sealing premises where necessary.

He said indiscriminate dumping into drainage channels was contributing to blockages and worsening environmental conditions across the state.

Sanwo-Olu also attributed part of the pressure on Lagos’ waste infrastructure to the state’s growing population, noting that increased migration into Lagos had resulted in higher levels of waste generation.

He said the growth in population, including the increasing number of students in schools and universities, was stretching existing infrastructure and creating the need for additional investment.

The governor said the state government would therefore make additional funding available for the rehabilitation of access routes to dumpsites, creation of additional tipping points and deployment of more excavators and bulldozers.

He said the interventions were necessary to improve the efficiency of waste disposal and reduce the time trucks spend waiting at dumpsites.

Sanwo-Olu acknowledged the shortcomings in the state’s waste management system but assured residents that the government was taking steps to address them.

“We will make funding available immediately for additional contracting to give access to some of those dump sites that we have talked about,” he said.

The governor maintained that the government, residents, PSP operators and contractors all had roles to play in improving waste management in Lagos.

He said his administration would continue to monitor the sector, enforce environmental regulations and invest in the infrastructure and equipment required to improve waste collection and disposal across the state.