Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has criticised plans by the Lagos State Government to reintroduce the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, warning that the move violates a court ruling and could amount to contempt of court.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Falana described the policy as a return to practices from Nigeria’s military era, arguing that restricting residents’ movement for several hours on the last Saturday of every month is unconstitutional.
He noted that the state’s 2026 budget allocated about ₦236 billion for environmental management, including waste disposal and sanitation, insisting that the government should instead invest the funds in hiring more sanitation workers and deploying modern cleaning equipment such as mechanical and vacuum sweepers.
Falana referenced the landmark case of Faith Okafor v. Lagos State Government, in which the Court of Appeal of Nigeria ruled that restricting movement during sanitation hours was illegal and unconstitutional.
The case involved Faith Okafor, who was arrested in 2013 for allegedly violating the sanitation directive. Although she was initially fined by a lower court, the Court of Appeal later ruled that her arrest and conviction violated her fundamental rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement.
Falana argued that a governor’s directive does not have the force of law and warned that reintroducing the policy would defy the court’s judgment. He therefore urged the Lagos government to abandon the plan and instead adopt lawful and modern approaches to environmental sanitation.
