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The Lagos State Government will deploy over 200 new compactor trucks to strengthen waste collection and improve environmental sanitation across the state.
Deputy Governor Kadri Obafemi Hamzat disclosed this on Saturday while monitoring the August monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area alongside his wife, Oluremi, and other government officials.
Hamzat, who participated in cleaning activities at Festac Town, urged residents to stop patronising unregistered cart pushers and instead hand their waste to registered Private Sector Participation (PSP) waste operators.
“What we need our people to also do is to make sure that they patronise their PSP, not the cart pushers,” Hamzat said.
“Because those are not organised. You don’t know where it’s ending up, okay? But the PSP will take it to the landfills. The cart pushers, we don’t know. It might even be in the canals.”
The deputy governor said improper waste disposal could contribute to flooding, urging residents to play their part in keeping refuse out of drainage channels.
Hamzat said the monthly sanitation exercise was intended to promote a culture of environmental responsibility among residents.
The government’s planned acquisition of more than 200 compactor trucks is expected to bolster the state’s waste collection capacity as authorities seek to address persistent refuse accumulation in some parts of Lagos.
Also speaking during the exercise, Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, said the government was taking measures to address waste accumulation on road medians and improve the condition of landfills and dumpsites.
Wahab, accompanied by the Special Adviser on the Environment, Kunle Rotimi-Akodu, said the situation was improving, with emergency teams operating around the clock.
He said the ministry had established “emergency teams working 24 hours daily” while also taking steps to fix landfills and dumpsites.
The commissioner said the government would continue engaging PSP waste operators and intervene where necessary to improve their services.
He added that better waste collection would encourage more residents to pay their waste bills, helping to sustain the PSP operators.
On the activities of cart pushers, Wahab said the government was engaging them but warned against measures that could create bigger problems.
“But we don’t want to say because we’re in a situation, we take steps that will come to harm us later in life,” he said.
“Most of these cart pushers, ask yourself, where is that waste usually dumped? Drainage, medians, and so on.”
Wahab also linked some cart pushers to other criminal activities, citing security findings.
