Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has given occupants of shanties and makeshift structures on the median of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway 72 hours to vacate, warning that enforcement officials will move in from next week to demolish all illegal structures on the corridor.
Sanwo-Olu issued the ultimatum on Saturday after leading the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Surulere Local Government Area, where he was joined by his wife, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu.
Speaking to journalists after the exercise, the governor said the clearance would cover the stretch from Orile-Iganmu to Okokomaiko, adding that the government would not allow what he described as an international gateway to be turned into a slum.
“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.
“It is a 10-lane highway built with taxpayers’ resources. I will not fold my arms and allow them to turn that international gateway into a slum. We are starting next week, and we are going to deploy thousands of men there.”
On waste management, Sanwo-Olu announced plans to add 150 compactors to the state’s fleet and deploy tricycles to inner communities where larger vehicles cannot reach. He also disclosed that the state is building a modern material recovery and recycling facility expected to process about 4,250 metric tonnes of waste daily.
The governor urged residents to support the government’s sanitation drive by disposing of waste responsibly and paying their waste collection bills, stressing that cleanliness is a collective responsibility.
Environment Commissioner Tokunbo Wahab, who spoke during an inspection of the Olusosun Landfill, said Lagos was transitioning away from its decades-old “collect and dump” model, noting that the Olusosun site would be converted into a transfer loading station capable of moving 2,500 metric tonnes of waste daily to a new material recovery facility in Ikorodu, with operations expected to begin before year-end.
“We can’t sustain the linear waste management system we have practised for over four decades. We simply do not have the land for it. Let us make waste a resource — for wealth, for energy, and for many other purposes,” Wahab said.
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