Hamzat, Rhodes-Vivour, Doherty Outline Plans to Fix Lagos Waste Crisis
Lagos governorship candidates on Sunday, 8 November 2026, presented competing proposals to address the state’s waste management challenges during a televised debate organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium.
The candidates: Dr. Obafemi Hamzat of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Funso Doherty of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), and Adedeji Doherty of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) outlined their strategies at The Hub by IALA in Lekki.
Rhodes-Vivour described Lagos as a state that “stinks,” blaming years of poor management rather than population growth for the decline in refuse collection.
He said the number of waste collection trucks had fallen from about 1,000 under former Governor Babatunde Fashola to roughly 200.
“We don’t actually have a waste management system. We have a waste pick and dump system,” Rhodes-Vivour said.
He proposed decentralising the system by involving local governments more actively, requiring households to separate waste at source, and creating value from recyclables so that residents, local governments and the state all benefit.
Hamzat, the incumbent Deputy Governor, defended the current administration’s direction, saying Lagos was shifting from collection and dumping to collection and material recovery.
He disclosed that transfer loading stations with a capacity of 5,000 metric tonnes each were being developed at Olusosun and Solous 3 in Alimosho.
A material recovery facility had also been established at Erekiti, with plans for further facilities, including a waste-to-energy plant at Agbowa.
Hamzat said the strategy aimed to process about 10,000 metric tonnes of waste daily and significantly reduce the volume sent to landfills.
He noted the state’s limited landmass made expansion of dumpsites difficult.
Funso Doherty said waste was accumulating faster than it was being collected and argued that the problem extended beyond household refuse to liquid and human waste.
He raised concerns about pollution from the Olusosun dumpsite and its impact on nearby communities, calling for greater investment in trucks, collection facilities and processing infrastructure.
Adedeji Doherty emphasised the need to address solid, liquid and human waste comprehensively and warned about the environmental and health consequences of inadequate disposal systems.
Lagos generates an estimated 13,000 to 15,000 tonnes of municipal waste daily.
The candidates’ proposals form part of their broader platforms ahead of the 2027 governorship election.
By Oyinkansola Shittu.
