LAWMA rehabilitates Olusosun dumpsite road after Sunday PidomNigeria report

The Lagos Waste Management Authority has rehabilitated and reopened a major access road within the Olusosun Landfill in Ojota following a Sunday PidomNigeria investigation that exposed the facility’s deteriorating infrastructure and its crippling impact on waste evacuation across Lagos.

The intervention, which comes weeks after the report, is expected to ease the movement of compactor trucks into the landfill, improve waste disposal operations, and help clear the backlog of refuse that has left heaps of garbage littering roads, markets, and residential communities across the state.

The Managing Director of LAWMA, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin, disclosed this on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, during an inspection of the rehabilitated Road E and the E2 waste-charging platforms at the Olusosun Landfill.

Sunday PidomNigeria had earlier conducted an undercover investigation into activities at the landfill to find out why compactor trucks were spending days in queues and why many were unable to discharge waste, a situation that contributed to the growing accumulation of refuse on roads, streets, and in markets across Lagos.

The investigation, published on June, 21, 2026, under the headline, “Olusosun: Lagos’ largest dumpsite where ageing equipment, mounting waste fuel disease fears,” revealed that the landfill’s internal roads had become severely deteriorated, with several sections collapsing and trapping waste trucks, resulting in prolonged traffic gridlock within the facility.

The report also revealed that trucks which managed to gain access to the landfill frequently developed mechanical faults, including punctured tyres and burnt clutches, further worsening operations at the site.

Speaking 38 days after the report, Gbadegesin said ZoomLion Nigeria Limited executed the rehabilitation project as part of its corporate social responsibility initiative, adding that the intervention would significantly improve access to the landfill while strengthening the state’s waste management operations.

“We are here today at the Olusosun Landfill. What has been achieved is the repair of Road E and two of the platforms on a corporate social responsibility basis by ZoomLion Nigeria Limited.

“They are our partners constructing the transfer loading stations and material recovery facilities that will become operational in a few months,” he said.

Gbadegesin also clarified that, contrary to public speculation, the Olusosun Landfill had not been shut down. Rather, the state government was gradually winding down operations while reclaiming additional space to sustain waste disposal during the transition.

“We announced that we were winding down activities, but the site has not been closed. What we have done is reclaim a portion of the site so we can continue disposing of waste as we gradually phase out operations.

“This will also help us clear the waste backlog on our roads because it is not acceptable for waste to remain on our streets,” he said.

The LAWMA MD attributed Lagos’ waste management challenges not only to limited access to disposal facilities but also to residents’ waste disposal habits and the failure of some households to pay their Private Sector Participant operators for waste collection services.

“A lot of the challenge is also our behaviour as a people. If residents do not pay their PSP operators on time, how are they expected to buy diesel, maintain their trucks, and pay their workers?” he asked.

Gbadegesin added that the Lagos State Government was investing in transfer loading stations, material recovery facilities, waste-to-energy plants, and biogas plants to strengthen waste management infrastructure and meet the needs of the state’s growing population.

On the persistent refuse on Lagos roads, he urged residents to adopt proper waste disposal practices.

“Lagos will be free from dirt when Lagosians decide that Lagos will be free from dirt. If everyone stops dumping refuse by the roadside and hands it over to their PSP operators, we won’t have this problem.

“If you experience delays in waste collection, report them directly to LAWMA. Don’t dump your waste by the roadside. Once we all play our part, we will stop having waste on our roads,” he advised.

Also speaking, the Director of Public Affairs at the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Mr Kunle Adeshina, told Sunday PidomNigeria that the rehabilitated access road and waste-charging platform would significantly ease congestion at the landfill.

According to him, the intervention would improve the turnaround time for waste compactor trucks, accelerate refuse evacuation across the state, and support efforts to prevent disease outbreaks associated with accumulated waste, including Lassa fever.

“The rehabilitated platform and road will ease the congestion that has resulted in compactor trucks lining up on the access road into the landfill. The trucks will now have a quicker turnaround time in collecting refuse from homes and transporting it to the landfill.

“With time, there will be a noticeable reduction in the volume of waste on our streets and in our neighbourhoods,” he said.

The National President of the Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter, Mr Olugbenga Adebola, also welcomed the development, describing the restored access road as a major boost to waste management operations.

“We are pleased with this development and hope it will be sustained because the current waste challenge is largely about access to disposal sites. We believe this intervention will provide operators with much-needed relief.

“Once the transfer loading station becomes operational, we can fully resume efficient door-to-door waste collection. We assure residents that waste collection and disposal will improve significantly,” he said.