Lagos Moves to Tackle Environmental Degradation in Iwaya

The Lagos government officials visited the Iwaya community on Saturday as part of efforts to tackle environmental degradation, promising to address issues of street trading, waste management, and flooding.

The commissioner for environment and water resources, Tokunbo Wahab, gave the assurance while speaking with journalists after a courtesy visit to the Olu of Iwaya, Oba Suleiman Owolabi.

Mr Wahab also inspected the ongoing environmental and infrastructure projects on Lagos Island.

He said the Iwaya community would soon witness significant improvement, adding that the government was committed to fixing the environmental challenges in the area.

“We came to Iwaya because we promised the oba and the community that we would assess the state of the environment. We awarded some contracts in Iwaya to complete a collector we are lining to the lagoon. The oba also raised issues on street trading, waste management, and flash flooding, which we inspected,” he said.

He said the visit was timely as the government was finalising its 2026 budget.

“Thankfully, the visit is timely because we are preparing next year’s budget. We want to prioritise this Iwaya project,” he said.

Mr Wahab described the area as strategic due to its location between the University of Lagos and the lagoon.

“We want to clean up the channels, dredge them and ensure free flow of storm water into the lagoon,” he added.

Regarding street trading, he stated that the Kick Against Indiscipline officials would enforce environmental laws in the community.

Speaking on his inspection tour of Lagos Island, Wahab said he was impressed with the level of work being done.

“A few months ago, the situation was different. Now you can see the progress made by Julius Berger and the Ministry of Environment. We told them to align their work plans so we can deliver the projects on time,” he said.

Commenting on waste management, the commissioner acknowledged that the state had recently faced setbacks but stated that the government had taken steps to address the challenges.

“In the past few weeks, we have faced deterioration in the situation. We have engaged the PSP operators and addressed their concerns. The governor met with them two weeks ago, and I have also met with them several times,” he said.

He noted that Lagos, as a rapidly growing city, faces similar waste management challenges to those of cities across the world.

“We are transitioning from the old practice of just picking and dumping waste. We are now treating waste as a resource. This is why we are increasing advocacy to show people that waste can generate income,” he said.

The commissioner added that building a sustainable waste management culture would take time.

(NAN)