The Battle Against Poor Waste Disposal in Lagos

I am a child of the 80s and ever since I have been conscious, Lagos has always had challenges with its waste disposal and management. However, some administrations have been good while others had it really bad. The Buba Marwa (1996-1999) Military Administration with things like installing yellow mini bins across the state, warnings against indiscriminate dumping of refuse, some prosecution of offenders and engagement with public transporters and their unions. These attempts did not work enough for Lagos to avoid being overrun by refuse.

The administration of then Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu (1999-2007) stemmed the negative tide by investing heavily in the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and its capacity to evacuate waste by purchasing more compactor trucks, bins, employing street sweepers, brought private sector participation (PSP) to evacuate waste and collect fees for their services from the residents of communities within their coverage area among many reforms. Lagos began to be free of waste on the roads that previously would not be evacuated in weeks. The "golden age" of cleanliness in Lagos in my lifetime so far came during the tenure of former Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (2007-2015). He expanded and improved on the aforementioned reforms, fought corruption within the system and pursued robust law enforcement during his tenure. By the time he was leaving office, things like tree planting, private owners of properties renovating and upgrading them were taking root and being implemented by Lagosians.

Then came the tenure of former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode (2015-2019) who did a lot of good work in his 4-year tenure like establishing the Lagos Neighbourhood Security Corps (LNSC) and having several milestone projects like Jubilee Bridge and Abule Egba Bridge amongst many others. However, in terms of waste management, his administration drew Lagos back by a decade at least because in his bid for what he tagged comprehensive reform of this sector with his partnership with a private company, Visionscape and the attempt to remove the old PSP operators and their pushback, refuse stayed uncleared for months in different parts of Lagos. Places people never dared to drop litter during Fashola became wholesale dumping points. Nigerians had unlearned the good habits of cleanliness quickly and reverted back to dirty tendencies. While some efforts were made to clear refuse by Visionscape and LAWMA during this period, it was very poor in comparison to what was needed.

This was a big part of how Governor Bajide Sanwoolu came to power in 2019 as former Governor Ambode lost his party's (APC) primaries. To be fair, things were better than the Ambode years during his first tenure but the efficiency never returned to the level of the Fashola years. Then the last two years happened, it began slowly until refuse kept piling in our neighbourhoods, then roads, then almost everywhere in Lagos. A lot of reasons were given for this negative state of waste management including, growing population, breakdown of access road to the Ojota dumpsite and indiscriminate refuse disposal but things have improved significantly in the last 3 weeks, I think it is as a consequence of this that LAWMA is now warning residents of Lagos that any of us that patronises roadside traders and vendors are liable to prosecution.

On the face of it, this attempt at enforcing the law is not a bad idea. The challenge is that those meant to enforce might more often than not turn it into a personal money making exercise. To this end, I hope those who choose to do so would be prosecuted too.

Finally, this brings me to my main point; my fellow Nigerians, we have a littering problem and it is deeply disturbing, people drop litter everywhere with such shamelessness and boldness that if I wanted to engage people doing it, I would end-up confronting people almost every day I step out of my home. Please, let us stop this and dispose of food packaging, plastic bottles, cans and other forms of waste in proper bins. Let us bag our waste properly and actively engage with LAWMA for its proper disposal. Let those responsible for waste disposal do their work properly too.

Lagos can be clean, we can have a healthy environment, let us do better in this regard on all sides. By making positive behavioural changes, we can achieve the hygiene standards we all desire.