Lagos residents call for tighter sanitation enforcement: dumping, blocked drains and patchy collection in focus

Residents in parts of Lagos used the October environmental sanitation exercise on October 31 to call for stricter enforcement of sanitation regulations and improved waste management. In interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, they cited indiscriminate dumping, blocked drains and inadequate disposal facilities, alongside poor public participation and irregular refuse collection, as problems undermining neighbourhood cleanliness.

Apapa Road: rising costs, no PSP operator seen for two years

On Apapa Road, residents and traders cited rising waste collection costs, poor drainage and low public participation. Resident Yagazierem Igwe said occupants of her building contributed monthly towards cleaning their surroundings, and said she had not seen Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators in her area for more than two years.

The ask: enforcement and collection must both improve

The residents' message centred on two points: stronger enforcement against dumping and blocked drains, and more reliable, wider refuse collection. The reports present these as residents' views expressed to reporters during the sanitation exercise, not a new policy announced by the authorities that day; with collection and participation gaps unresolved, the cleanliness problems keep coming back.