The Lagos State Government has announced the resumption of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, nearly a decade after it was suspended in the state.
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, on Saturday, disclosed the development in a statement, explaining that the exercise would officially restart later in the year.
‘I am pleased to inform all Lagosians that the monthly environmental sanitation exercise will resume effective Saturday, 25th April 2026, holding 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 view the initiative as a shared duty toward building a healthier city, stressing that the government would ensure strict compliance.
‘This exercise is a collective responsibility and a vital part of our commitment to a cleaner, healthier, and flood-resilient Lagos. And it shall be backed with the full enforcement weight of the Lagos State Government’, he said.
Explaining the significance of reintroducing the sanitation culture, the commissioner said the state was returning to a practice that once formed part of 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 emphasised cleanliness as next to godliness.
‘Once every month, we took our time to clean up our surroundings and then maintain them sparkling. However, for some years, we stopped it’.
He said the absence of the exercise had 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 to residents 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’.
It was reported 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.
