Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to occupants of shanties and makeshift structures erected along the median of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, warning that all illegal structures on the corridor will be demolished beginning next week.
The governor gave the directive on Saturday after leading the monthly environmental sanitation exercise across communities in Surulere Local Government Area alongside his wife, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu.
Addressing journalists after the exercise, Sanwo-Olu said the state government would deploy a massive enforcement team to clear the entire stretch from Orile-Iganmu to Okokomaiko, stressing that the highway median must be preserved.
“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,” he said.
According to the governor, the median was never intended to serve as a market or settlement, noting that allowing illegal structures to remain would undermine the huge public investment made in the 10-lane expressway.
“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 an official notice to everybody on that corridor. We are starting next week, and we are going to deploy thousands of men there,” he added.
On waste management, Sanwo-Olu disclosed that the state government would soon strengthen refuse collection by adding 150 compactors to its fleet, while deploying waste collection tricycles to inner communities to improve access.
He also revealed that Lagos is investing in long-term waste processing infrastructure, including a modern Material Recovery and Recycling Facility capable of processing about 4,250 metric tonnes of waste daily.
The governor urged residents to support the reforms 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 environmental sanitation activities to cultivate a culture of cleanliness and environmental responsibility from an early age.
Meanwhile, during an inspection of the Olusosun Landfill after the sanitation exercise, the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, said Lagos was transitioning from the decades-old “collect and dump” approach to a circular waste management system.
According to him, Olusosun will serve as one of the transfer loading stations, moving about 2,500 metric tonnes of waste daily to the new Material Recovery Facility under construction in Ikorodu, which is expected to commence operations before the end of the year.
“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.
He appealed to Lagos residents to support the government’s ongoing waste management reforms as the state continues its transition to a cleaner and more sustainable environmental system.