Lagos reopens dumpsite, tasks PSP operators on efficiency

Lagos Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab

The Lagos State Government has given Private Sector Participation (PSP) waste operators a fresh ultimatum to improve refuse collection across the state following the emergency rehabilitation and reopening of the Solus II dumpsite in the Igando area.

The government said it had fulfilled its part of the agreement by restoring the facility and repairing access roads, warning operators that they had no further excuses for failing to evacuate waste from residential areas.

The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, gave the warning on Wednesday during an inspection of the previously shut dumpsite in the Alimosho Local Government Area.

Wahab said the reopening of the facility was part of efforts to address the lingering refuse crisis, particularly in Lagos West, and challenged PSP operators to match the government’s intervention with improved service delivery.

“Too much is given, so much more is expected. There is no more excuse,” he said, emphasising his message to the PSP leadership.

He added, “The state government has done its own bit; let your PSP members also put their skin in it and see how they can achieve what we set out jointly to achieve, because they suggested we put this into play and now, we’ve done it for them.”

The commissioner explained that the decision to rehabilitate Solus followed suggestions by the operators, who preferred reopening the facility to wait for new dumpsites to be established around Badagry and Epe.

Wahab said the repaired access road was expected to last at least one year, with quarterly maintenance planned, while the dumpsite would receive a minimum of 100 trucks daily.

“One hundred trucks from this axis coming here to discharge give us the comfort that our streets and our homes will not be littered with waste,” he said.

Addressing complaints by residents over poor waste collection, the commissioner said the state would enforce its polluter-pay policy and hold operators accountable for the services they were paid to provide.

He warned that the government would “put their legs to the fire” to ensure that PSP operators fulfilled their obligations.

Wahab also confirmed that a major restructuring of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) had occurred following Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s directive.

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The commissioner added that senior LAWMA staff on Grade Levels 13 to 17, with a few exceptions, had been redeployed to the mainstream civil service as the state moved from a conventional waste collection system to resource recovery.

He noted that the government had also been exploring options for alternative refuse disposal locations, including proposed new sites around Badagry and Epe, to ensure a more sustainable waste management system.

Also speaking, the National President of the Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN), Olugbenga Adebola, welcomed the reopening of Solus II, describing it as a major relief for operators.

Adebola said the absence of accessible disposal facilities in recent months had forced waste operators to travel more than 120 kilometres outside Lagos to Sagamu to discharge refuse.

“As operators, we are the happiest people today,” he said, adding that the association had pledged to work with the government to ensure the facility operated effectively.

“We have told the commissioner and his team and the LAWMA team that we are going to co-own this place and ensure that we use this place as a model,” he said.

Adebola also commended the state government for providing new bulldozers at the facility, saying the equipment would improve operations and reduce queues of trucks waiting to discharge waste.

He expressed confidence that the reopening would improve refuse evacuation in Alimosho and adjoining areas, including Iba, Festac, Badagry and parts of Agege, within two weeks.

The AWAMN president also issued a warning to operators in the affected areas, urging them to increase their efforts immediately.

He added, “Everybody needs to double their hustles. If you cannot fly, please be running. If you can’t run, please be working. If you can’t work, then crawl. But no more crawling, we are saying, no more crawling.”

Adebola, however, urged the state government to accelerate the rehabilitation of other disposal facilities, including Ewu-Elepe, Ikorodu, Oke-Aro and Badagry.

He said communities in Ikorodu would continue to experience waste evacuation challenges until the dumpsite, which he said had been shut for nearly two months, was reopened.