23 hours ago
Residents are expected to clean their surroundings, clear drainage channels in front of their homes, and dispose of waste responsibly as part of efforts to improve environmental hygiene and tackle waste management challenges.
The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, announced on Saturday that the exercise will officially resume later this year.
“I am pleased to inform all Lagosians that the monthly environmental sanitation exercise will resume effective Saturday, 25th April 2026, and will be held on the last Saturday of every month from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
“During this period, residents are enjoined to clean their surroundings, clear drainage channels in their frontages, and dispose of waste properly as a civic responsibility.”
Wahab urged residents to see the initiative as a shared duty toward building a healthier city, emphasizing that the government will enforce strict compliance.
“This exercise is a collective responsibility and a vital part of our commitment to a cleaner, healthier, and flood-resilient Lagos. It will be backed with the full enforcement weight of the Lagos State Government,” he said.
Explaining the importance of reintroducing the sanitation culture, the commissioner noted that the state is returning to a practice that was once integral to Lagosians’ lifestyle.
“Let me formally say this and say it boldly. Mr Governor and his deputy are taking a very audacious step. For those who don’t know, prior to 2016, we had a culture that emphasized cleanliness as next to godliness.
“Once every month, we took time to clean up our surroundings and maintain them sparkling. However, for some years, we stopped it.”
He added that the absence of the exercise contributed to mounting environmental pressures in the state.
“Now, waste, debt, and environmental challenges have become an existential challenge to us as a state. It’s taken us over a year to debate, talk, and agree that it’s time to reintroduce a monthly environmental sanitation,” Wahab said.
Appealing for cooperation, he urged Lagosians to dedicate a small portion of their time each month to environmental cleanliness.
“It’s a plea that it is time for us to give up just one or two hours a month. In our marketplaces, every Thursday, we observe environmental cleanliness. But this time, we are saying as a state, let us sit back once a month and observe the cleanliness of our environment as we used to before 2016.”
PUNCH Online reports that the monthly sanitation exercise, previously held on the last Saturday of every month between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., was suspended in November 2016 following a legal pronouncement restricting movement during the exercise.
The suspension later coincided with growing waste management concerns, including clogged drainage channels and indiscriminate refuse disposal across parts of the state.
