Lagos warns residents against using unregulated cart pushers

Lagos State is urging its residents to cease using the services of unregulated cart pushers, citing severe environmental consequences. Tokunbo Wahab, the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, issued a stern warning, emphasizing that the actions of these informal waste collectors often lead to indiscriminate dumping on road medians, streets, and drainage channels.

Wahab explained that this practice has grave implications for the environment and significantly hinders effective flood management within the bustling metropolis. The warning comes in the wake of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in the Festac area, highlighting the ongoing challenges in waste management.

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We must also discourage the patronage of unregulated cart pushers, whose activities often result in indiscriminate dumping on medians, roads and drainage channels, with serious consequences for the environment and flood management.

The commissioner stressed that the state is committed to developing a more efficient, sustainable, and accountable waste management system. He noted that the informal, unregulated waste collection by cart pushers directly undermines these efforts. Wahab linked residents' willingness to pay for waste services to the quality and reliability offered by government-approved operators.

Maintaining a clean Lagos, Wahab insisted, requires a collective endeavor. While the government is focused on providing leadership, infrastructure, and regulation, residents must also assume responsibility for proper waste disposal. This includes keeping surroundings clean not just on sanitation days, but every day, to support the city's environmental health and resilience.

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A cleaner Lagos requires a collective effort. Government will continue to provide the leadership, infrastructure and regulation needed, but residents must also take responsibility by properly disposing of their waste and keeping their surroundings clean, not only on sanitation days, but every day.