PRESS RELEASE
FORCEFUL RESTRICTION OF MOVEMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION IS ILLEGAL / Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN
By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN
On Saturday, April 25, 2026, Lagosians were forced to stay in their homes by the Lagos State Government under the guise of enforcement of monthly environmental sanitation. In forceful enforcement of this illegal policy, the government deployed all its arsenals, including law enforcement agencies, LASTMA, health officers and even area boys (agberos) to harass, intimidate and threaten innocent citizens from the lawful exercise of their fundamental and constitutional rights to move freely.
The government claims to rely on a particular health law of 2017, which it has refused to publish or make available to the public for confirmation and scrutiny. For the avoidance of any doubt whatsoever, there is currently no law in force in Lagos State which permits the government to restrict movement of persons for the purpose of enforcing monthly environmental sanitation. I challenge Lagos State Government to publish such a law, if at all it exists.
In the light of this, it becomes morally and legally untenable, for the same government that cannot organize simple waste evacuation, the same government that is actively sponsoring the discharge of human wastes into the Lagos Lagoon, the government that is unable to provide water for its citizens or guaranty their security and safety, to seek to enforce an unknown law. Cleanliness should be part and parcel of human life and there is no need for threat and intimidation to keep to all reasonable standards of public and private hygiene.
The greatest dirt upon human existence is blind corruption and poor leadership which subjects citizens to mass hunger, untold suffering, turns them to victims of escalating violence, force them into slavery and other menial jobs in foreign lands and reduces their income and capacity while imposing bogus taxes upon them without corresponding development.
In a mega city like Lagos, we do not need to force citizens indoors for two hours in the name of sanitation, if the government gets its acts together for positive policy direction and implementation. It is archaic and anachronistic to claim to position a state for global recognition and at the same time cling to the relics of dictatorial policies of the inglorious military era and discarded methods of cleanliness not in tandem with best global practices. A government voted into power by the people should not turn around to deploy brute force to compel the people into submission and to abuse state power to oppress the people and keep them indoors against their wish.
The directive upon citizens to stay indoors on the last Saturday of every month is plainly illegal and unconstitutional and no resident of Lagos State should suffer any penalty or disability, for ignoring such illegal policy.
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