Lagos Environmental Offender Sentenced To 13-Month Community Service
A Special Offences Mobile Court sitting in Oshodi has sentenced a 48-year-old man, Makinde Rasaq, to 13 months of community service for illegal refuse dumping.
Rasaq was convicted on Monday after pleading guilty to seven charges related to environmental and public order offences.
According to a statement posted on the Lagos State government’s official X handle on Tuesday, he was arrested last week at Lagos Island while driving a Honda SUV loaded with refuse.
The court imposed varying terms of imprisonment with the option of community service for each offence, which cumulatively amounted to 13 months of community service to be served at Kirikiri.
The offences included breach of peace, indiscriminate dumping of waste, failure to patronise approved Private Sector Participation (PSP) waste operators, illegal transportation of waste without a valid licence, and obstruction of government officials in the discharge of their duties.
Rasaq was apprehended on Saturday night while dumping refuse at the Tinubu Fountain area in Central Lagos. Authorities said there are suspicions that he may be part of an organised group allegedly involved in deliberately dumping waste in public places to portray the state as unclean.
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Following his arrest, he was detained at the Adeniji-Adele Police Station before being handed over to officers of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) for arraignment by legal officers from the Lagos State Ministry of Justice.
Reacting to the judgment, the Managing Director of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Dr Muyiwa Gbedegesin, described the conviction as a strong signal of the state’s zero tolerance for indiscriminate waste disposal.
He urged residents to comply with environmental laws by patronising LAWMA-accredited PSP operators, stressing that effective waste management is a shared responsibility.
Gbedegesin added that while waste generation is inevitable, residents must avoid unlawful practices and embrace proper waste disposal methods in the interest of a cleaner and healthier Lagos.
