Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has declared what he described as a “small state of emergency” on waste management as the state grapples with delays in refuse collection and increasing cases of indiscriminate dumping across the metropolis.

Sanwo-Olu made the declaration on Wednesday during an inspection of the Olusosun dumpsite in Ojota, where he assessed the challenges affecting waste collection and disposal operations.

The governor was accompanied by his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, and the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab.

Sanwo-Olu said the state had experienced increasing pressure on waste collection over the past few weeks, resulting in refuse being dumped at undesignated locations.

“In the past couple of weeks, we have seen pressure and slow turnaround in waste collection in different parts of the city. We have seen residents throwing waste indiscriminately at undesignated areas in the city,” he said.

He added that the inspection was aimed at identifying the problems within the system and putting measures in place to restore effective waste collection and disposal.

As part of the immediate response, Sanwo-Olu announced that the Lagos State Government had ordered 160 new compactor trucks to strengthen waste collection from homes and roads to disposal facilities.

He also said the capacity of Olusosun dumpsite would be increased to improve the turnaround time for waste trucks.

According to the governor, Olusosun currently receives between about 250 and 350 trucks daily, but the state intends to raise that capacity to between 350 and 450 trucks by increasing the number of tipping points at the facility.

The government also plans similar interventions at other waste disposal sites across the state.

Sanwo-Olu said Lagos was working to make additional disposal locations operational in the coming weeks to reduce the pressure on Olusosun.

The sites mentioned include Solu 3 in Alimosho, Iwulepe in Ikorodu and Oke-Osho in Epe, while Erikitte in Badagry is also expected to be developed.

The governor said the state hopes to have at least four active disposal sites within about six weeks, with a fifth site subsequently brought into operation.

The objective, he explained, is to reduce the amount of time waste collection trucks spend travelling to and waiting at disposal facilities.

Long queues and delays at disposal sites can affect the number of trips trucks are able to make in a day, potentially leaving refuse uncollected for longer periods.

Beyond the immediate response, the state government said it was working on longer-term infrastructure to improve waste handling and recycling.

According to Sanwo-Olu, two 2,400-metric-tonne transfer loading stations are planned for Olusosun and Solu 3.

The facilities are expected to receive compacted waste before it is transported to material recovery facilities being developed at Oke-Osho in Epe and Erikitte in Badagry.

The governor said the projects are intended to strengthen the state’s capacity not only to collect and dispose of waste but also to sort and convert waste into useful materials.

Sanwo-Olu also announced plans to review the membership and performance of Private Sector Participation operators involved in waste management.

He said the government wanted to ensure that only operators with the required capacity and technical expertise remained within the system.

The move comes as the state seeks to address the operational problems contributing to delays in waste collection.

The governor also urged residents to pay for waste management services, arguing that the sustainability of the system requires cooperation between government, service providers and households.

While announcing the emergency measures, the governor also appealed to residents to stop dumping refuse on roads, drainage channels and other unauthorised locations.

The government has previously used environmental sanitation campaigns and public awareness efforts to encourage residents to dispose of waste properly, but Sanwo-Olu acknowledged that coordination within the system needed improvement.

The immediate challenge is now to ensure that the announced measures translate into faster collection and cleaner streets.

For a city of Lagos’s size, an effective waste management system depends not only on the availability of trucks and disposal sites but also on reliable collection schedules, functioning disposal infrastructure, capable operators and compliance by residents.

Sanwo-Olu’s declaration therefore places the state’s waste management system under renewed scrutiny, with residents likely to judge the intervention by how quickly accumulated refuse is cleared and whether regular collection can be restored across the metropolis.