Published by Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Lagos State Government has vigorously defended its decision to reintroduce the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, pushing back against criticism from opposition figure Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour who described the initiative as “parochial” and lacking innovation. The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, on April 24, 2026, issued a detailed response to the former Labour Party governorship candidate, now an African Democratic Congress chieftain, insisting that the two-hour exercise is a necessary civic duty rather than a disruptive shutdown of Africa’s largest city.
The disagreement erupted after Wahab announced that the sanitation exercise would hold on the last Saturday of every month between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., starting April 25, 2026. In a statement on social media, the commissioner urged residents to take responsibility for cleaning their surroundings. However, Rhodes-Vivour fired back, arguing that temporarily halting movement in a megacity of over 20 million people does not address the root causes of waste management challenges. “Shutting down a city of 20 million people to clean their immediate environment is parochial and lacks imagination,” he wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He further emphasised that the core issue lies in the logistics of waste management, from collection and disposal to recycling.
Wahab rejected the notion that the exercise amounted to a shutdown. “Shutting down a city of over 20 million people is not what we are doing. We are asking residents to dedicate one hundred and twenty minutes, once every thirty days, to clean their immediate surroundings. That is not a shutdown. That is called taking responsibility,” he said in a response shared on his X account. The commissioner outlined what he called five important principles that the monthly sanitation exercise reinforces: civic awareness, drainage maintenance, enforcement windows, community ownership, and improved waste disposal practices.
The legal basis for the exercise also became a point of contention. Rhodes-Vivour, as well as other critics, had questioned whether the government had the authority to enforce participation, citing a 2016 court ruling that had invalidated restrictions on movement during sanitation hours. Wahab, however, insisted that the legal hurdle had been overcome. “Let me address the confusion some have tried to create. No court pronouncement has invalidated this exercise. The State proceeded to the Court of Appeal, and judgment was delivered in our favour. The court affirmed that the laws used for the implementation and enforcement of environmental sanitation are legitimate and constitutional,” he stated.
Wahab also sought to distance the monthly exercise from the broader structural reforms his ministry is implementing. “I agree completely that waste management logistics, from collection to disposal to recycling, are critical,” he said, pointing to various environmental initiatives already underway. He noted that Lagos has introduced restrictions on single-use plastics, advanced waste-to-energy projects at the Olusosun landfill, deployed biogas facilities in markets, and partnered with private sector players to convert waste into usable resources. “These are not cosmetic actions. They are structural changes to how Lagos manages waste,” the commissioner insisted.
Despite these systemic efforts, Wahab argued that no amount of infrastructure investment would yield results without public cooperation. “But here is what I also know. No system of waste management, no matter how sophisticated, will succeed if citizens refuse to take basic responsibility for their environment,” he said. He appealed to residents to adopt better environmental habits, warning that indiscriminate dumping of refuse into drains contributes directly to the seasonal flooding that plagues the city. “You cannot complain about flooding while dumping refuse in drains. You cannot demand a cleaner city while sweeping waste into the road,” he added.
Wahab also faulted the opposition figure for offering criticism without proposing viable alternatives. “Dismissing a civic exercise as unimaginative, while offering no alternative path to citizen participation, does not move us forward,” he said. Rhodes-Vivour, a trained architect and environmental activist who has previously criticised the government’s handling of plastic waste and its reliance on the Olusosun landfill, did not immediately respond to the commissioner’s latest remarks.
To ensure compliance, Wahab announced that major transport unions controlling about 90 per cent of vehicles on Lagos roads have agreed to suspend operations during the sanitation window. However, exemptions would be granted for emergencies, scheduled flights, and students writing the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examinations. The Lagos Waste Management Authority has been fully mobilised to evacuate waste generated, and environmental health officers will monitor properties, with defaulters facing abatement notices under the Environmental Management and Protection Law of 2017. The government has also introduced a reward system, with the cleanest local government area, local council development area, and street set to receive incentives.
The clash between Wahab and Rhodes-Vivour highlights a fundamental policy debate in Lagos: whether the path to a cleaner city lies in occasional, mandatory civic exercises or in more radical, technology-driven overhaul of the entire waste management system. While Rhodes-Vivour has called for abandoning centralised landfills in favour of Scandinavian waste processing techniques and introducing aquatic life into polluted waterways, the state government has chosen to combine long-term infrastructure upgrades with what it hopes will be a revived culture of environmental discipline.
As Lagos prepared for the first sanitation exercise in nearly a decade, Wahab struck a tone of cautious optimism. “Tomorrow, let us show Lagos and the world that we are ready to take ownership of our environment. Two hours. One Saturday each month. A cleaner, healthier, flood-free Lagos for all of us,” he said. The success of the renewed policy, however, will ultimately depend not on legal rulings or political debates but on whether millions of Lagosians truly embrace the message that a cleaner city must be a collective project.
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