More People, More Trash: Hamzat blames influx for Lagos waste surge

Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Kadri Hamzat, has said that the continuous influx of people into the state adds to waste generation, noting that government will deploy 220 newly-acquired compactor trucks to strengthen waste evacuation.

Hamzat said this on Saturday during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Festac, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos.

Hamzat said the additional trucks would complement the operations of Private Sector Participation, PSP, operators and expand the state’s capacity to evacuate refuse, particularly from areas where existing arrangements were struggling to meet demand.

According to him, “The state government will be bringing in another 220 trucks to make sure that we supplement our PSP,” he said.

He explained that the decision was necessitated by the increasing volume of waste generated in the state as a result of its rapidly expanding population.

According to him, the continuous influx of people into Lagos has placed additional pressure on existing waste management infrastructure and services.

“A lot of people are coming to Lagos, and therefore they generate waste. So part of what you can see that we are doing is that we are getting many more trucks to actually go and evacuate,” Hamzat said.

The deputy governor urged residents to patronise accredited PSP operators rather than cart pushers, who, according to him, often operate outside the regulated waste management system.

“What we need our people to also do is to make sure that they patronise their PSP, not the cart pushers, because they are not organised.

“You don’t know where the waste is ending up,” he said.

The deputy governor called on residents to sustain environmental sanitation beyond the monthly exercise and make the cleanliness of their homes and communities a routine responsibility.

“We cannot be a people without a healthy environment. It doesn’t matter what we do, a cleaner environment is what makes a city or a state sustainable,” Hamzat said.

Hamzat also addressed environmental management concerns in Festac. Hamzat said the Federal Housing Authority had specific responsibilities in the area but stressing that residents and property managers remained subject to the environmental regulations of the Lagos State Government.