The Lagos State Government has revealed that more than 8,000 offenders have been taken to court in the past year for environmental infractions, including open defecation, as authorities ramp up enforcement across the state.
Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, disclosed this on Tuesday during an interview on Arise Television, where he outlined the government’s evolving strategy to tackle poor sanitation practices and reshape public behaviour.
According to Wahab, while enforcement has been strengthened, the state is deliberately prioritising behavioural change over coercion.
“If you put the penalty first, that means you put the cart before the horse,” he said. “Once we are able to build that consensus for the majority, with respect to taking ownership… it becomes easier to now introduce sanctions where necessary.”
He stressed that relying solely on punishment could lead to superficial compliance driven by fear rather than genuine attitudinal change.
“They are not convinced. They may end up doing it out of fear. That is not what we want to do in a 21st-century Lagos,” he added.
Despite ongoing advocacy, the commissioner lamented that some residents remain defiant, describing certain offenders as “incorrigible” and deliberate in their actions.
“In the past one year, we’ve taken over 8,000 offenders to court for open defecation and other environmental violations,” Wahab said. “But what we have found is that some persons are just deliberate. They know what they are doing.”
Citing examples, he noted that some individuals ignore available sanitation facilities and continue to engage in illegal practices.
“There are public toilets. We have about 1,710 public toilets across the state. If you aggregate those in eateries and gas stations, we have over 8,000,” he said. “Yet some people still go out between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. to defecate in open spaces.”
Wahab recounted how enforcement actions have begun to change behaviour in notorious locations.
“At Berger, there are modern public toilets, one of the best you can find anywhere. But people deliberately chose the median between Lagos and Ogun to defecate,” he said. “When we started enforcement and arrests, the narrative changed.”
On infrastructure, the commissioner acknowledged gaps and said the state is scaling up waste management capacity, particularly through the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).
“I will admit, we have to ramp up capacity for LAWMA, especially in providing bins,” he said. “As of early this morning, we cleared parts of Mushin, but I told the Managing Director, ‘provide more bins, meet local demand first.’”
He also highlighted broader reforms in the waste management sector, including a shift from a linear disposal system to a circular, resource-based model.
“What we are doing now is to move waste from just dumping to a resource, waste to wealth, waste to energy, waste to compost,” Wahab explained. “That is the culture we are trying to build.”
As part of this transition, the state plans to decommission major landfills such as Olusosun and Solous 3 within the next 18 to 24 months, while expanding new facilities in Epe and Badagry.
“We want a situation where less than five per cent of our waste ends up in landfills,” he said.
The commissioner further disclosed that Lagos has begun deploying technology-driven solutions to tackle flooding, including AI-powered early warning systems and round-the-clock operations by the state’s Flood Abatement Gang.
“We are a coastal state with about 187 kilometres of Atlantic coastline. Flooding is a reality we must manage proactively,” he said. “Our teams work 24/7, and once they succeed, we solve at least 50 per cent of our drainage challenges.”
On environmental compliance, Wahab reiterated that certain practices, such as waste burning, remain illegal and will attract sanctions.
“For those that burn waste, it is unlawful in Lagos State. We are also deploying air quality monitors statewide to ensure compliance and protect public health,” he said.
While acknowledging that progress may be gradual, the commissioner maintained that sustained advocacy, infrastructure investment and enforcement would ultimately yield results.
“We are not going to get there overnight,” Wahab said. “But if we don’t build the right culture now, all the investments we are making will be eaten up by bad behaviour.”
