Lagos State will restart its monthly environmental sanitation exercise on April 25, 2026, bringing back a policy that has been off the books since November 2016. The clean-up will hold on the last Saturday of every month, with movement restricted from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. so residents can clean their homes, surroundings and drainage frontages.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced the return during a March 14 clean-up along the Mushin-Agege Motor Road corridor, and officials said the exercise is meant to force a fresh citywide push on waste and drainage. The state says LAWMA intervention trucks will move in to cart away bagged waste generated during the period, while top officials including the governor’s wife, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, and Head of Service Olabode Agoro will monitor compliance.
Environment Commissioner Tokunbo Wahab said defaulters will be sanctioned under the Lagos State Environmental Management and Protection Law of 2017. He said the state will also reward the cleanest Local Government Area, Local Council Development Area and street, a sign that the government wants the exercise to be as much about competition as enforcement. Major transport unions have pledged not to operate from parks and terminals during the sanitation window, and Community Development Associations have been urged to mobilise members for full participation.
The return closes a gap that began when the monthly exercise was suspended in November 2016, after a March 2015 court ruling said the earlier restriction of movement from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. was unconstitutional. That legal history explains why the new window is narrower and why the government is calling it controlled movement rather than a full shutdown. It also comes as Lagos expects heavier rainfall during the rainy season, making drainage clearance a more immediate concern than before.
For residents, the answer is now plain: environmental sanitation in Lagos is coming back, it starts on April 25, and it will be enforced every last Saturday of the month.
