Failure To Pay Waste Management Fees Will Become Criminal Offence In Lagos – Wahab

The Lagos State Government has warned residents who fail to pay for waste management services provided by Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators that such non-payment will constitute a criminal offence.

The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, disclosed this in a statement posted on his official X handle on Friday, while sharing details ahead of a radio programme on “Lagos and the Numerous Gains of the Monthly Clean-Up Since Resuscitation”.

Wahab said the government was reviewing the state’s waste management system to address challenges affecting its effectiveness, including residents’ refusal to pay for services rendered by PSP operators.

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According to him, the “polluter-pays-principle” remains the standard approach to waste management globally, but some Lagos residents had opted to avoid paying for waste disposal services.

“All over the world, the standard policy for waste management is the ‘polluter-pays-principle’. But here in Lagos, some of our people want to free-ride the system and have therefore chosen not to pay for the services rendered by PSP operators,” Wahab said.

He said the failure to pay for waste management services had negative consequences for the state’s waste management system.

“All of these have adverse effects on the waste management system. However, we are now rejigging the system, and going forward, failure to pay for waste management services rendered will constitute a criminal offence,” the commissioner said.

Wahab also acknowledged shortcomings identified by the government since the commencement of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise.

“Since we started the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, we, as a government, have identified some shortcomings on our part, and we are confronting them head-on,” he said.

The commissioner said the government was committed to improving waste management and ensuring a cleaner environment across Lagos State.