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Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab has said some residents are sabotaging the state’s waste management system by refusing to pay Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators for waste collection services.
Wahab stated this on Friday while featuring as a guest on Citizens Voice 97.1FM, where he spoke on the gains of the resuscitated monthly environmental sanitation exercise.
“All over the world, the standard policy for waste management is the ‘polluter-pays-principle’. But here in Lagos, some of our people want to free-ride the system and have therefore chosen not to pay for the services rendered by PSP operators,” he said.
The commissioner said the non-payment has “adverse effects on the waste management system” and disclosed that the government is rejigging the system.
“Going forward, failure to pay for waste management services rendered will constitute a criminal offence,” the lawyer-cum-politician warned.
Wahab also said the government has identified shortcomings since the monthly sanitation exercise was revived and is addressing them.
The exercise, held statewide on the last Saturday of every month between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., was reintroduced in April 2026 after a 10-year suspension.
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Speaking on PSP operations, he noted that Lagos has over 500 PSP trucks operating across the state, which is the standard requirement for operators.
However, he said some communities have grown exponentially, making two trucks insufficient to service them.
“The government is therefore working to acquire additional trucks to support the PSP operators and strengthen waste collection across the state,” he added.
This comes as the state government recently met with the Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN) and PSP operators ahead of the August 29 sanitation exercise to address operational challenges.
Wahab said the objective is to build a waste management system that is “efficient, sustainable, and accountable”, and that the financial sustainability of PSP operations is also being reviewed.
He stressed that “operational challenges cannot be an excuse for failing residents”, and called for stronger community-level monitoring to ensure residents patronise designated operators and stop indiscriminate waste disposal.
The commissioner urged residents to take ownership of their environment, saying government cannot do it alone.
