Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour bluntly declared on Wednesday that “Lagos stinks” in a pointed response to Tokunbo Wahab, the Lagos State Commissioner for the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources.
In a tweet and accompanying detailed statement, Rhodes-Vivour criticised what he called the use of “bigotry” to address residents’ concerns, stating that such approaches put officials “in a permanent state of mediocrity” when Lagos instead “deserves excellence, not mediocrity and excuses.”
The statement, released under the “Our Lagos” initiative, outlines an 11-point environmental action plan addressing the city’s waste management and sanitation challenges. Rhodes-Vivour’s proposals include abandoning central city landfills like Olusosun in favour of Scandinavian waste management techniques, building modern water treatment facilities, and introducing aquatic life into waterways for natural cleaning.
Additional recommendations focus on providing affordable housing with proper waste collection systems, creating a network of public toilets with compost technology, preventing further sand filling in central Lagos, and subsidising waste services for low-income communities. The plan also emphasises sanitary facilities for areas like Sagbo Koji, promoting solar power in markets, implementing comprehensive tree planting, and improving drainage systems with specialised filters.
Rhodes-Vivour concludes his statement with the unambiguous challenge: “Lagos stinks: do something about it,” directly pressuring Commissioner Wahab and other officials to take immediate action on the city’s environmental problems. (Businessday)