The Lagos State Wastewater Management Office has sealed four properties in Ikotun and Ajah for illegally discharging untreated wastewater into public drains, in the latest enforcement action under the state government’s sustained campaign against environmental pollution.
The Lagos State Wastewater Management Office (LSWMO) confirmed the closures, describing the discharge of untreated wastewater into public drainage systems as a violation of environmental regulations that constitutes a public nuisance, endangers human health, and degrades the surrounding environment. The affected properties in both Alimosho and Eti-Osa areas were shut following surveillance and confirmed investigations by the agency.
The enforcement action is consistent with a pattern of increasingly aggressive compliance drives by the LSWMO across the state. In February 2026 alone, the agency sealed a public toilet at Ijora Olopa for the “deliberate discharge of raw sewage and wastewater into the environment via pumping machine,” and separately closed a property on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway in Surulere following confirmed reports of the “persistent discharge of untreated wastewater into the environment.”
Earlier in the same month, the LSWMO also sealed a public toilet at Savage Street, Ebute Metta, after officials discovered raw sewage being pumped directly into a drain, and subsequently shut down COSJANE MALL along Festac Link Road in Amuwo Odofin for releasing untreated wastewater into the public drainage system.
The sealing of properties for environmental infractions has become a recurring enforcement feature across several parts of Lagos. Over the past year, establishments ranging from churches and hotels to industrial facilities in Ikeja, Mushin, Gbagada, and Maryland have been shut for violating environmental regulations. The Lagos State Waste Management Authority has also arrested dozens of people for illegal dumping along major highways.
Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, has repeatedly warned that the government will not tolerate lawlessness that undermines environmental safety. “We will not allow lawlessness to undermine environmental safety in the state. Lagosians are enjoined to embrace proper waste and wastewater management and hygiene practices to enhance public health and environmental sustainability,” Wahab stated during a previous enforcement round.
The LSWMO, established in 2010, is mandated to monitor all private commercial properties with populations of more than 50 persons or higher than three floors to ascertain whether functional wastewater treatment plants are in place, and to conduct laboratory analysis of effluent from both government-owned and private facilities. Properties found in violation face closure until they demonstrate compliance with the state’s environmental management and protection laws.
The agency has warned that sealed properties will remain shut until owners demonstrate full compliance with wastewater treatment standards, and that persistent offenders face possible prosecution.