Lagos will restart its monthly environmental sanitation exercise on April 25, 2026, bringing back the long-suspended cleanup routine with movement restricted across the state from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. every last Saturday of the month. Residents are expected to clean their homes, surroundings and drainage frontages during the window, while the state says bagged waste will be collected by intervention trucks.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced the return after the programme was symbolically launched on March 14 along the Mushin-Agege Motor Road corridor. The exercise is coming back nearly a decade after it was suspended in November 2016, following a court ruling in March 2015 that said restricting movement during sanitation hours was unconstitutional and interfered with freedom of movement.
Environment Commissioner Tokunbo Wahab said residents who do not follow the guidelines will face sanctions, and that enforcement will be carried out by a joint team drawn from the ministry, the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, Kick Against Indiscipline, the Lagos Waste Management Authority and local government sanitation officers. Defaulters also face abatement notices and prosecution under the Lagos State Environmental Management Law of 2017 and other relevant regulations.
The government is leaning on more than enforcement. It has promised rewards for the cleanest local government area, the cleanest local council development area and the cleanest street, while major transport unions have pledged not to operate vehicles from parks and terminals during the sanitation period. Community Development Associations have also been asked to mobilise members, and all local governments and local council development areas, along with some private organisations, are providing tools and waste evacuation vehicles.
Top officials will fan out across the state to monitor compliance, with Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu leading one team with members of COWLSO and Olabode Agoro heading another in a separate local government area. Environmental health and enforcement officers will also be deployed across neighbourhoods, as the state tries to make the return of Lagos State environmental sanitation more than a symbolic revival. The real test is whether the new schedule, the controlled movement order and the promised enforcement can hold together on April 25 and after, especially as the government says heavier rainfall this season makes drainage clearing more urgent.
