Lagos waste, flooding: Wahab, Rhodes-Vivour trade words - Vanguard News

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, ADC governorship candidate, Lagos.

LAGOS — The Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, and the 2027 governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, have engaged in a war of words over waste management and flooding in the state.

The exchange followed comments by Rhodes-Vivour during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, where he described parts of Lagos as “stinking” and raised concerns over waste evacuation and recurring flooding.

The disagreement comes ahead of the 2027 Lagos governorship election, with waste management, flooding and other environmental issues expected to feature prominently in political campaigns.

Reacting to the claims, Wahab said some of the concerns raised were legitimate but described as misleading the suggestion that the state had no plan beyond clearing refuse after it accumulated.

According to the commissioner, Lagos generates an estimated 13,000 to 15,000 tonnes of municipal waste daily.

He said the Lagos Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, and Private Sector Participation, PSP, operators evacuated approximately 418,500 tonnes of waste in May 2026, representing an average of about 13,500 tonnes daily.

“These figures underscore the enormous scale of the responsibility. They do not suggest that every resident receives satisfactory service.

“We acknowledge collection failures, underperforming PSP operators and operational bottlenecks. However, it is misleading to suggest that Lagos has no plan beyond clearing refuse after it accumulates,” Wahab said.

He explained that waste management was an interconnected system, noting that delays at disposal facilities could affect truck turnaround, disrupt collection schedules and lead to refuse accumulation in neighbourhoods.

Wahab said the rehabilitation of Road E and additional disposal platforms at the Olusosun landfill had improved operational efficiency, with truck movements rising to 1,866 in the week following the intervention.

He added that Olusosun recorded an increase in truck trips from 574 to 1,012.

Beyond emergency interventions, the commissioner said the state was investing in modern transfer loading stations, material recovery facilities, recycling, composting and the Epe waste-to-energy project.

“The objective is to transition from decades of pick-and-dump practices to a sustainable system where waste becomes a resource for energy and economic value,” he said.

On data and reforms, Wahab said the government was strengthening property enumeration, geocoded service locations, GPS tracking, weighbridge measurements, collection records and recovery data.

He added that the PSP system was being reformed, with sanctions or termination for non-performing operators.

He said the government was also assessing whether every household had an assigned waste collector, whether operators were adequately equipped, whether scheduled routes were completed and whether complaints were promptly addressed.

“These are questions government is answering with measurable performance, not political rhetoric,” Wahab said.

The commissioner also stressed that the monthly environmental sanitation exercise was not a substitute for effective waste management.

“Government must provide reliable services, while residents and businesses must equally stop indiscriminate dumping into drains, road medians and public spaces,” he said.

Wahab urged the public debate to focus on measurable outcomes, including tonnes of waste collected, routes completed, missed collections, complaint resolution, identified waste blackspots and the volume of waste diverted from landfills.

“Lagos has significant work ahead, and we must acknowledge that honestly. But to suggest that nothing is being done ignores the investments, infrastructure and operational reforms already underway,” he added.

On flooding, Wahab said Rhodes-Vivour’s criticism should be considered against Lagos’ coastal geography, tidal locks and the effects of climate change.

“As an architect, he should appreciate that even the most resilient drainage infrastructure cannot entirely eliminate flash flooding in a coastal megacity,” he said.

Wahab said the state had invested in drainage infrastructure, pump stations, year-round maintenance, flood abatement operations and wetland preservation, while also removing structures on floodplains.

He claimed the measures had reduced flooding incidents by between 75 and 80 per cent across the state.

“It is therefore misleading to suggest that flooding is being ignored or that no meaningful progress has been made,” Wahab said, adding that “flooding is a global coastal challenge, not one peculiar to Lagos.”

Responding, Rhodes-Vivour described Wahab’s statement as “lengthy explanations, with little by way of solutions.”

“Plenty of prose, very little results,” he said.

Rhodes-Vivour argued that accumulated refuse was a major contributor to flooding because rainwater could wash waste into drainage channels even when residents did not deliberately dump refuse there.

“It might not be obvious to you and your principals, but most Lagosians and even foreigners can see it clear as day – REFUSE! GARBAGE! WASTE! If you’re not packing the refuse, it will stack up and be washed into the drainage by the rain. Citizens don’t even have to dump their refuse in the drains. The rain will do it for them,” he said.

He also questioned the density of roads and drainage infrastructure in Lagos, claiming that the state had 1.3 kilometres of roads per square kilometre of land, compared with 13.6 kilometres in Singapore.

“In case you’re wondering what this has to do with flooding – more drains means less water on the road surfaces,” he said.

Rhodes-Vivour proposed clearing existing drains and major channels, constructing more roads and drains, developing boardwalks or embankments along lagoon and river shorelines, and using sluice gates and high-powered pumps to regulate water levels inland.

“I’m merely putting out this information because these are just some of the pragmatic, practical measures @GRVlagos and I will implement to alleviate the perennial flooding problem,” he stated.

He also criticised the APC-led administration, accusing it of “27 years of incompetence,” and called on residents to support his platform to “Make Èkó Great Again.”

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