The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to occupants of shanties and makeshift structures on the median of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway to vacate the area.
Sanwo-Olu gave the warning on Saturday after leading the monthly environmental sanitation exercise across communities in Surulere Local Government Area of the state.
Naijaonpoint reports that the governor was joined by his wife, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, during the exercise, which formed part of the state government’s renewed campaign to promote cleanliness and responsible waste disposal across Lagos.
Speaking with journalists after the exercise, Sanwo-Olu said enforcement officials would be deployed from next week to remove all illegal structures on the expressway median.
The governor said the clearance would cover the stretch from Orile-Iganmu to Okokomaiko, stressing that the government would not allow the corridor, described as an international gateway, to be converted into a slum.
He said, “This is the final notice to everyone occupying the median of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. From next week, we are coming to clear the entire median. Everything there will go. Every illegal structure will be removed.
“It is not meant to be a market. It is not meant to be a place where people erect structures. It is a highway median, and we must preserve it, especially considering the huge public investment on that corridor.
“It’s a 10-lane highway that was built with the resources of our taxpayers. I will not fold my arms and allow them to turn that international gateway into a slum. This is a notice that I am giving officially to everybody on that corridor. We are starting next week, and we are going to deploy thousands of men there.”
Sanwo-Olu also disclosed that his administration would soon add 150 compactors to the state’s waste collection fleet as part of efforts to improve sanitation and waste evacuation.
He said waste tricycles would also be deployed to inner communities to strengthen waste collection in areas where compactors may not easily access.
The governor added that the state was investing in long-term waste processing infrastructure, including a modern material recovery and recycling facility expected to process about 4,250 metric tonnes of waste daily.
He, however, urged residents to support the government’s efforts by disposing of waste responsibly and paying their waste collection bills promptly.
“Waste management is not the responsibility of government alone. It is a collective responsibility.
“Residents must also play their part by paying for waste collection services. That is what enables the PSP operators to continue providing efficient services,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu further encouraged parents to involve their children in sanitation activities, saying cleanliness and environmental discipline must be taught from an early age.
According to him, keeping the environment clean is central to building a healthier and more sustainable Lagos.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, said the state government had commenced moves to replace its old waste management model with a more sustainable system.
Wahab spoke during an inspection of the Olusosun Landfill after the sanitation exercise.
He said the state could no longer continue with the linear system of collecting and dumping waste, adding that the government was working to ensure that waste generated across Lagos was converted into useful products.
“This place will be one of the transfer loading stations that will transfer about 2,500 metric tonnes of waste a day to the material recovery facility that will be located in Ikorodu. The target is for it to commence operations before the end of the year, so we just have to come and see what they are doing.
“We can’t sustain the linear waste management system that we have practised for over four decades, which simply means we have been used to collect and dump. Collect and dump cannot be sustainable. Even if we leave climate issues aside, we simply do not have the land for it.
“So let us make waste a resource—for wealth, for energy, and for many other purposes. That is the transition we are going through now,” Wahab said.
The commissioner appealed to Lagos residents to cooperate with the government as it continues to implement reforms aimed at improving waste management and environmental sustainability in the state.
