The Lagos State government has clarified that there will be no movement restriction, punishment, or arrest of residents who fail to comply with the reintroduced environmental sanitation set to resume on April 25, 2026.

Speaking to Peoples Gazette on Monday, the special adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on media and publicity, Gboyega Akosile, said the exercise, which will take place from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. on the last Saturdays of every month, is meant only to appeal to residents to also play a part in the cleanliness of their immediate environments.

According to Mr Akosile, the appeal to residents is not meant to hand over the responsibility of the state government to them, despite budgetary allocations in that regard, insisting that it is still the duty of approved waste management operators to go to the streets and roads to evacuate waste and refuse.

Mr Akosile said, “Is the government abdicating its responsibility? The answer is no. Is the government saying people should carry the waste used in their homes and take them to the dump sites at Ojota or other places? The answer is no.

“The exercise is a mind set shift, that people should be partakers in the cleanliness of their environment. We’re just saying that let’s set aside a day to be part of the cleanliness of our environment. When we start to do that, it will register in the subconsciousness of the people that they need to take care of their environment.

“Government is not saying there will be restriction of movement. You can go wherever you want to go but, ofcourse, when they come out to clean their drainages, environments, surroundings, it’s still PSP operators and govenment approved agencies that will come to cart away all the rubbish. So, it’s still the same government’s role that we’re performing.

“These are also Lagosians, we don’t want to punish people endlessly, we want to change the mindset of the people. It’s a collective responsibility we’re trying to preach, not to force or coerce anybody into doing what they don’t want to do.”

Asked how the state government plans to tackle a potential surge in waste disposal on the roads and medians, especially during environmental sanitation Saturdays, Mr Akosile said although he does not expect that to happen, the Sanwo-Olu administration has already budgeted this year for the procurement of more equipment to address environmental and waste management challenges.

He said, “The waste will not be more, they (LASTMA) are taking them regularly disposing them the appropriate way, if anything, we’ll have a reduction. However, there are plans on the way to get more equipment for waste disposal, in fact, it’s there in the budget speech of Mr Governor this year, that we’re going to invest heavily on the environment, particularly waste management.”

Also noting that “there won’t be arrest for not coming out,” Mr Akosile stated that the state government is working with Community Development Corporations and landlord associations to ensure that tenants and residents “comply voluntarily”.

A Federal High Court in Lagos, presided over by Justice Mohammed Idris, had in 2015 declared illegal the restriction of movement during the then three-hour environmental sanitation exercise from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., as well as the subsequent arrest and prosecution of violators.

The judge, in response to the suit filed at the time by lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa against the Inspector-General of Police and the Akinwunmi Ambode government, held that Nigeria’s Constitution grants citizens freedom of movement which cannot be taken away by a governor’s executive proclamation in the absence of any law to that effect.

In another judgement in 2016, Justice Ugochukwu Ogakwu of the Appeal Court, Lagos Division, in a suit filed by one Faith Okafor, also nullified and banned the restriction of residents’ movement on environmental sanitation days, as well as arrests by the state government and its affiliates on that basis.