Human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has condemned the Lagos State Government’s plan to reintroduce the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, which restricts residents’ movement for three hours on the last Saturday of every month, describing the initiative as unconstitutional and a violation of a standing court judgment. Falana said the policy, which he called a relic of Nigeria’s military era, has no place in a democratic society governed by the rule of law.
In a statement on Sunday, the senior advocate noted that the planned exercise is unjustifiable, particularly given the substantial budgetary allocation to environmental management in the state, highlighting that the 2026 Appropriation Law earmarked N236 billion for urban waste management and sanitation. He added that members of the Lagos State House of Assembly had already supported more effective waste management systems rather than restricting residents’ movement.
Falana urged the government to adopt more efficient sanitation strategies, such as engaging additional cleaners and acquiring mechanical sweepers for heavy debris and vacuum sweepers for fine dust and litter, instead of enforcing what he described as an illegal exercise.
He cited the 2016 Court of Appeal ruling in the case of Faith Okafor v. Lagos State Government, in which a Lagos resident was arrested for allegedly violating the movement restriction during a monthly sanitation exercise. Okafor had initially been fined by a special offences court but successfully challenged the restriction on appeal. The Court of Appeal declared the restriction illegal and unconstitutional, stating that directives issued by a governor do not constitute law and cannot justify the arrest, prosecution, or conviction of citizens.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Biobell Abraham Georgewill warned against allowing executive directives to override constitutional safeguards, noting that prosecuting a citizen for an act not prescribed by law could grant “infinite, absolute and autocratic powers” to public officials.
Falana stressed that the Lagos State Government should abandon the proposed policy, warning that reintroducing the monthly sanitation exercise would be highly contemptuous of the Court of Appeal and undermine the rule of law.
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