Lagos Communities Struggle with Sewage in Public Drains

On a humid morning in May, Enomfon Okure stepped out of her apartment on Braimoh-Igbo Street in Itafaji, Lagos Island. She was ready for another workday in Ikoyi.

Before taking a few steps, she instinctively covered her nose. The awful smell had become part of her mornings since January 2025, when she moved to the area with her family.

Beside the road, black wastewater slowly flowed through an open drainage channel. At times, more toilet waste gushed from pipes sticking out of nearby buildings and emptied directly into the drain.

Flies hovered over the dirty water as people squeezed along the narrow walkway, trying to avoid touching it. For Mrs. Okure, a nurse and mother of four, this scene has become a part of her daily life.

“I am struggling to survive here,” she told PREMIUM TIMES. “My husband rented this place because it is close to my office in Ikoyi. But when I arrived, I discovered that almost all the gutters in the area receive wastewater from houses. Some of them even carry human waste.”

Her biggest worry was her children's safety. “I don’t allow them to play outside because if they fall into the gutter, it will be dangerous,” she said.

Eventually, Mrs. Okure said the situation became too much. “I discussed it with my husband and decided to send the children back to Akwa Ibom to stay with relatives,” she said. “This environment is a gateway to diseases.”

Over several weeks, PREMIUM TIMES visited Braimoh-Igbo Street, Obe Street, Alli Street, Massey Street, Kakawa Street, Okepopo Street, Isale Gangan Street, Adeniji Adele, Tinubu Square and other areas of Lagos Island.

Across residential and business areas, this newspaper saw pipes from buildings discharging wastewater and toilet water directly into public drainage channels.

The Problem Spreads

The issue goes beyond residential areas. At Tinubu Square, one of Lagos Island’s busiest commercial spots, traders told PREMIUM TIMES that wastewater and sewage from public toilets and commercial buildings flow into the drainage system.

David Nonso, who sells clothing there, said traders have put up with the awful smell for years. “All the toilets in this market are connected to the drainage,” he said. “When people flush, everything goes into the gutters. The smell can be terrible, especially when it rains or when the weather is very hot.”

PREMIUM TIMES saw wastewater and sewage flowing through open drains beside rows of shops as traders and customers moved through the area. Mr. Nonso said the problem partly comes from the crowded development on Lagos Island, where buildings are very close together.

“Their houses are too close to each other,” he said. “Nobody is even giving space for somebody to do soakaway.” Ibrahim Abubakar, a tailor in the area, also said wastewater regularly flows through the drains in front of the market.

Another trader, Emeka Uzor, who sells electrical goods, worried about the health risks for traders, customers, and residents who come into contact with the dirty environment. “The drainage was meant to carry rainwater, but now it carries everything,” Mr. Nonso said. “People have become used to it because it has been happening for years.”

He said a disease outbreak in such a busy commercial area could affect many more than just the traders working there. “When disease breaks out, it affects everybody,” he said. “Even our children don’t come there because it is very bad. If somebody falls into that gutter, that one is terrible.”

Buildings Over Drains

PREMIUM TIMES also found another issue that could make it hard to check and maintain public drains. In several spots, parts of drainage channels disappeared beneath buildings before coming back into sight further down the street.

On Braimoh-Igbo Street, Obe Street, and nearby roads, the newspaper saw buildings sitting over sections of drainage channels, making parts of the drains hard to access from the street. Residents claimed that some landlords had extended their buildings over existing drainage paths and were using the hidden sections to send wastewater and sewage from their properties.

PREMIUM TIMES could not independently find out what was being released into the concealed sections, but dark, foul-smelling wastewater was observed coming from some drains downstream.

On 17 June, this newspaper contacted the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) through the Freedom of Information (FOI) request for clarification on the approval and regulation of building structures that allow residents to channel toilet pipes directly into public drainage systems. The newspaper also asked about the common practice of building structures on drainage channels.

Despite many visits to the agency’s office to get answers, LASBCA did not respond to the inquiries. For residents, the consequences are clear on the streets. Wastewater continues to flow through open drains around homes and businesses, even where its exact source is hidden beneath concrete.

What the Law Says

The practices seen by PREMIUM TIMES are against Lagos State’s environmental rules. The Lagos State Environmental Management and Protection Law, 2017, places responsibilities on property owners and occupiers to keep their premises clean and prohibits actions that could block drainage systems or pollute the environment.

Under Section 112 of the law, owners and occupiers must keep their premises clean, including the surrounding gutters and drains. Section 118(1)(a) bans building structures on drainage paths, sewers, footpaths, and required road setbacks.

This provision is relevant to PREMIUM TIMES’ findings on parts of Lagos Island, where sections of drains disappeared under buildings before reappearing further down the streets. The law also covers the discharge of untreated waste. Section 185 states that a person must not discharge untreated waste or chemicals into the environment except in line with applicable regulations or federal law.

For some establishments, including housing estates, hotels, and commercial facilities, Section 188(1) prohibits the discharge of trade and industrial waste into public drains or the environment without a permit from the relevant agency. Section 115(4) also bans the indiscriminate dumping of domestic, industrial, or commercial waste along roads, channels, and other specified locations.

Beyond the environmental law, Lagos building rules require developers to provide proper systems for disposing of wastewater from buildings. This includes public or private sewers, septic tanks with proper secondary treatment, wastewater treatment systems, or cesspools.

Yet PREMIUM TIMES saw pipes from residential and commercial buildings discharging wastewater directly into public drains in various parts of Lagos Island.

Enforcement Has Not Stopped the Practice

The state has taken action against properties accused of breaking wastewater and environmental rules. The Lagos State Wastewater Management Office (LSWMO) sealed a property in Okota after finding that raw sewage from its septic tank was being discharged into a public drainage system.

Three months later, enforcement officers shut a residential property on Apongbon Street on Lagos Island for allegedly releasing faecal matter into public drains.

In September 2025, LSWMO sealed EMCEL Court Phase I and Well Stock Apartments in Ikota GRA, Eti-Osa, for discharging untreated wastewater into public drains and the surrounding area. The agency has done similar enforcement in other parts of Lagos. In August 2025, it sealed residential properties in Abule Egba and Lekki, Eti-Osa, after accusing occupants of pumping raw sewage into public drains.

In April, while announcing the return of monthly environmental sanitation, the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, reminded residents to keep drainage channels clean around their properties and dispose of waste properly, warning that violators would be punished.

Despite these enforcement actions and warnings, PREMIUM TIMES found wastewater still flowing through public drains in many communities on Lagos Island.

Billions Spent on Drainage Infrastructure

The conditions reported by PREMIUM TIMES are happening despite significant public investment in Lagos’ drainage systems. According to the Lagos State government’s 2024 Citizens’ Accountability Report, the Office of Drainage Services and Water Resources spent about N45.53 billion during the year, which is 99 percent of its total budget of N46.06 billion.

This spending covered several drainage-related projects, including construction, dredging, and rehabilitation. The state reported spending N13.65 billion on drainage construction and dredging across Lagos and N11.48 billion on rehabilitation of drainage systems across local government areas. Another N9.36 billion was recorded for dredging and construction, while N2.30 billion went towards outstanding liabilities on drainage construction.

These expenses mainly relate to drainage and flood management and should not be mixed up with spending on sewage or wastewater treatment, which is handled separately by the Lagos State Wastewater Management Office. They are still relevant to another finding of this investigation: public drains in some of the communities visited were being used for purposes they were not designed for, and some drainage channels had been built over or made hard to access.

The Lagos State government itself describes maintaining drainage rights-of-way, cleaning drains, and dredging canals as important parts of its flood-control efforts. Yet in parts of Lagos Island visited by PREMIUM TIMES, drains meant for stormwater also carried household wastewater and refuse.

The state’s budget records show that drainage spending is spread across several programs and budget lines, making it misleading to use a single administrative allocation as the government’s total spending on drainage.

Lagos State Government Muted

The questions were sent to the Lagos State government in writing. Getting answers was not easy. On 17 June, PREMIUM TIMES submitted an FOI request to Mr. Wahab, asking what the ministry knew about illegal sewage discharges, how it monitored properties linked to public drains, and what actions it had taken against offenders.

The request did not stop there. On 30 July and again on 4 August, PREMIUM TIMES returned to the commissioner’s office to follow up and give the ministry another chance to respond to the investigation’s findings.

During the second visit, Mr. Wahab’s secretary sat in his office, checked his records, and then shared the commissioner’s position before heading downstairs to the car park. “The commissioner says he is not interested,” he said.

That left many questions about whether the ministry had found properties discharging sewage into public drains, how widespread the practice was, and whether anyone had been punished.

PREMIUM TIMES also tried to find out whether the conditions seen on Lagos Island were reflected in the health records of children living there. In June, the newspaper visited Massey Children Hospital on Lagos Island to ask for data on children treated for cholera, typhoid fever, acute diarrhea, dysentery, and other waterborne diseases.

The hospital’s administrative department said approval from the Lagos State Health Service Commission was needed. A letter requesting the information was submitted and received on 2 July. There was no response despite follow-up efforts.

An FOI request was sent to the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, on 17 June, asking for information on the health impacts of poor sanitation and sewage discharge. When PREMIUM TIMES returned to the relevant offices on 30 July and 4 August, the questions were still unanswered.

Yet the open sewage situation in Lagos Island is thought to have contributed to the high cholera cases in the area. Each year, as rainfall increases, floodwaters mix with sewage and refuse from blocked drains, spreading diseases like cholera.

In 2024, Lagos accounted for about half of the total cholera cases reported in Nigeria, with many of these cases from Lagos Island. The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) was also asked to explain what it knew about the problem. An FOI request was submitted to the agency on 17 June, followed by visits and other efforts to get a response. None came.

The Lagos State Wastewater Management Office (LSWMO) did respond after PREMIUM TIMES sent questions by email. The agency’s response came on 5 August. A. Abiola, who responded on behalf of the agency’s General Manager, Adefemi Afolabi, said untreated wastewater, raw sewage, and faecal sludge should not flow into public stormwater drains or gutters. Such drains, he explained, are meant to carry rainwater, not sewage.

He noted that property owners must provide proper sanitation systems, including septic tanks and soakaways or wastewater treatment plants, based on the type and size of their buildings. LSWMO said it checks compliance through inspections, tracing drainage routes, testing wastewater samples, and responding to complaints from residents and whistleblowers.

When illegal discharges are found, the agency said it can issue abatement notices and, if property owners do not comply, disconnect illegal pipes, seal premises, impose fines, or prosecute offenders. The agency said it had issued hundreds of abatement notices across Lagos and sealed many residential and commercial properties over the past two years. Some of the enforcement actions involved properties on Lagos Island.

But LSWMO also explained why the practice has been hard to stop. Lagos Island is densely built, with small plots, old infrastructure, and a high groundwater table. These conditions can make it hard for owners of older buildings to install or upgrade proper sanitation systems. Poorly maintained soakaways can overflow in areas with a high water table.

Some landlords respond by sending greywater into gutters, the agency said, but that does not make the practice legal.

Where a building lacks a proper sewage-disposal system, LSWMO said the owner is responsible for putting one in place. The agency said it can provide technical guidance, while licensed sewage dislodgers can temporarily remove waste during the work. It also said it was looking into decentralized wastewater and faecal sludge treatment systems for densely populated areas where traditional sewer networks would be hard or costly to build.

The agency’s response also clarified the buildings that PREMIUM TIMES found sitting over sections of drainage channels. LSWMO said the removal of physical encroachments is the job of other urban planning agencies. But where such structures are used to hide illegal wastewater connections, the wastewater office said it can intervene and refer the matter to the right authorities.

Health Risks of Unsafe Wastewater Disposal

Health and environmental experts interviewed by PREMIUM TIMES warned that the conditions observed on Lagos Island could expose residents to disease, especially where wastewater contains faecal matter or contaminates water and food. Ernest Onyebuchi Nwoke, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physiology at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, said untreated sewage in open drains boosts the risk of diseases linked to poor sanitation.

He highlighted cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, hepatitis A, and other diarrheal illnesses as major concerns.

Children, he said, can be especially at risk because they are more likely to touch contaminated surfaces while playing. “Children are especially vulnerable because they often put their hands in their mouths,” Mr. Onyebuchi Nwoke said. “Even walking barefoot through contaminated floodwater can expose them to parasites such as hookworm.”

The risks could increase during flooding, he added, when contaminated water from overflowing drains spreads into homes, markets, and other public spaces. “When floodwater overflows, it carries germs from drains into homes, contaminates food and water sources, and increases people’s exposure to disease-causing organisms,” he said.

Mr. Onyebuchi Nwoke also warned that groundwater could become polluted where septic systems are poorly built, leak, or overflow, especially in areas with a high water table. He called for stronger enforcement against illegal wastewater connections, regular checks of drainage systems, and better sewage management.

‘Infrastructure Alone Cannot Solve the Problem’

Olamide Martins Ogunlade, Associate Director for Climate Change and Extractives at the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), said using stormwater drains for wastewater defeats the purpose of the infrastructure. “Public drains are meant to carry rainwater away quickly to reduce flooding,” Mr. Ogunlade said. “When people connect wastewater or sewage pipes to them, they are forcing the drainage system to do a job it was never designed for.”

He explained that mixing sewage with stormwater weakens the drainage system and increases pollution and public health risks. He noted that mixing sewage with stormwater creates conditions for the rapid spread of cholera, typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis, and other waterborne diseases, especially during heavy rains when polluted drains overflow into streets, homes, and markets. The dirty drains also become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and rodents while polluting nearby rivers and lagoons.

Mr. Ogunlade said the lack of public sewer infrastructure in many parts of Lagos cannot excuse the illegal discharge of wastewater into drainage channels. “Property owners have a duty to provide safe and approved wastewater disposal systems,” he said. “Wastewater should be contained and treated, not dumped directly into public drains.”

He also raised worries about buildings built on drainage paths, saying such developments make it hard for government agencies to check drains, clear blockages, spot illegal wastewater connections, and carry out regular maintenance.

“In a flood-prone city like Lagos, keeping drainage corridors clear is as important as building new ones,” he said. “Once drains are built over, problems stay hidden until a major flood reveals them.”

Addressing Lagos State’s investment in drainage infrastructure, Mr. Ogunlade said building new drains alone won’t fix the problem if maintenance, enforcement, and public cooperation remain weak. “Infrastructure alone cannot solve the problem,” he said. “Government must focus on maintaining existing drainage systems, enforcing environmental rules, and educating the public just as much as it does on building new infrastructure. If wastewater management is ignored, even the best drainage system will eventually fail.