Reports of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, appearing in Mushin on Saturday, March 14, 2026, have fueled fresh speculation about the potential return of Lagos State's monthly environmental sanitation exercise. While no official flag-off has been confirmed by the state government, the visible engagement signals ongoing stakeholder discussions about reinstating a policy absent for nearly a decade.To understand the weight of this potential decision, we must revisit 2016. The monthly sanitation exercise, which previously grounded the entire state for three hours every last Saturday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., was suspended. The government at the time cited the practical impossibility of restricting movement in a rapidly growing megacity, a decision reinforced by legal pronouncements regarding those movement restrictions.

For years, the first, third, and fifth Saturdays remained "free." However, as the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, has repeatedly pointed out, the absence of a structured, state-wide exercise did not solve the waste problem—it arguably exacerbated it.

 Blocked drainage channels, indiscriminate dumping, and a general decline in civic discipline became the new normal.What strikes me most about recent government signals is the subtle but significant shift in language. Officials have emphasised that "a clean city is built by the daily actions of the people who live in it" and framed discussions as "a renewed call for environmental consciousness, voluntary participation, and partnership.

"This represents a strategic departure from the past. The old sanitation regime was largely coercive—driven by the fear of "KAI" (LAGESC) operatives and the embarrassment of doing frog jumps. The emerging approach, at least on paper, seeks to cultivate responsibility. The government's acknowledgment that the previous enforcement mechanism ended due to a court ruling, but that civic responsibility remains, is a mature framing of the issue.However, the "big stick" has not been entirely discarded. Just weeks ago, LAWMA's Anti-Open Defecation Squad arrested 46 offenders on Lagos Island, and 17 others were convicted and fined by a Magistrate court.

 This suggests a dual strategy: aggressive enforcement against nuisances like open defecation, coupled with a call for voluntaryism regarding general sanitation.Details will matter if reinstatement proceeds. Historically, the exercise held from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Any new order might shorten this to a two-hour window, such as 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., to better balance cleanliness with the economic pulse of a city that never sleeps. Residents would clean their homes and surrounding areas, with LAWMA officials collecting well-bagged waste. This delineation of responsibility is crucial—it removes the excuse of "I don't have anywhere to dump this refuse."In my opinion, the reintroduction of the sanitation exercise is an unavoidable step. 

The environmental degradation in some parts of the state—particularly the blocking of drainage channels that leads to flash flooding—has become a public health and safety crisis.However, the success of this exercise will depend on two factors: consistency and equity.First, the government must be consistent. If this becomes a flash in the pan, remembered only for speculative sightings in Mushin, it will worsen the cynicism of the populace. The enforcement by LAGESC and other agencies must be sustained.Second, and more importantly, the enforcement must be equitable. In the past, the poor bore the brunt of sanitation arrests while offenders in upscale neighbourhoods often got a pass. As LAGESC begins its crackdown on roadside trading and illegal dumping—a plan announced as far back as December 2025—they must ensure that the "big stick" is wielded fairly across all Local Government Areas, from Mushin to Ikoyi.

The Lagos State Government is correct: we do not have a waste problem; we have a discipline problem. A potential return of the monthly sanitation exercise is a gamble that measured coercion can foster that discipline. For the sake of a cleaner, flood-free Lagos, one hopes this gamble pays off if and when it materializes.