“The last government truck that came to our area was months ago,” trader Deji Adeyemi told Vanguard in Akure. “Now, I pay wheelbarrow pushers to carry the waste away. But honestly, I do not know where they dump it.”
Adeyemi’s problem is shared across the South-West. In a review published on 1 July, Vanguard’s reporters covered Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo and Ogun and found refuse piled along major roads and in the drains beside them.
Akure: waste on the main streets
In the Ondo State capital the worst spots include Arakale, Ijoka, Oke Aro, Aule, Orita Obele and the Odopetu Market behind the commercial car park on Arakale Road. The Nigerian Tribune added Adesida, Oyemekun Road and the Oja Oba area to the list. Stagnant water collects around the heaps, which breeds mosquitoes, flies and rodents.
Here is why that matters. Think of a drain as the gutter on a roof: once it clogs, the next heavy rain has nowhere to go. At Odopetu, traders have blocked the canals with waste and set out stalls directly in front of the piles.
Officials say the system works if people pay. Under the state’s “Polluter Pays” principle, households and businesses fund collection. Olayinka Alabi, chairman of the Ondo State Waste Management Authority, was blunt about the market. “They generated the waste, they must take responsibility by paying,” she said, though she admitted that access to the blocked canal remains a challenge. Environment Commissioner Tob Loko said the government has a zero-tolerance policy.
Residents point to the gaps. A monthly sanitation exercise runs from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. on the last Saturday of each month, but trader Chinwe Okafor said refuse pulled from drains can sit on the roadside for days, then wash back in with the rain. Private firms serve estates and high-income districts where people can afford the fees. Poorer, crowded neighbourhoods get irregular pickups and fall back on dumping.
Ekiti, Oyo and Ogun
Ekiti runs three major dump sites, at Ilokun, Shasha and Iyin-Ekiti, each covering no less than 23 hectares. Musa Sule, who has lived beside Ilokun for more than five years, said the smell makes children ill. Former waste agency head Olasunkanmi Onipede said the sites were there before the housing around them and that there are no plans to move them.
In Ibadan, heaps sit in Bodija, Ojoo, Beere, Challenge, Gate, Dugbe, Apata and Orita-Challenge. In the rainy season they block drains, causing flooding and odours. Environmental advocate Kola Animashaun blamed fast population growth and weak enforcement. Oyo’s environment commissioner, Ademola Aderinto, said the state has accredited private collectors and is rehabilitating landfills, but argued that “the issue of indiscriminate waste disposal cannot be solved by government alone.”
In Abeokuta, Vanguard found refuse outside Lafenwa High School, opposite Premier Grammar School and near Catholic Comprehensive High School, Onikoko. The Ogun State Waste Management Authority says it has arrested 128 residents and sanctioned 20 industries for illegal dumping. One court in Isabo gave eight offenders community service. Another earlier sentenced 14 people to 14 days in prison each, with the option of a ₦10,000 fine on each count.
Sources
- Refuse take over roads, drainage in Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti, Ogun
- Poor waste evacuation leaves Akure buried in refuse
