Lagos Seeks Efficiency In Environmental Management Through Innovation, Feedback

The Lagos State Government has said that it is prioritising innovation, citizen feedback and collaboration to improve efficiency in addressing environmental challenges and delivering a more livable city in 2026.

The Permanent Secretary, Office of Environment Services (OES), Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Dr. Gaji Omobolaji Tajudeen, stated this on Saturday while delivering a keynote address at a retreat organised by the Directorate of Environmental Assessment of the ministry.

The retreat, which had the theme: “Reflect, Review, Refocus: Strengthening Environmental Governance for a Sustainable Future in Lagos,” brought together ministry officials, academics and environmental experts to review the state of the environment in 2025 and outline corrective actions for the year ahead.

Tajudeen urged workers to embrace innovation with renewed vigour and leverage feedback from residents to achieve resilient, sustainable and people-focused service delivery.

He commended the workforce, management and political leadership of the ministry for the achievements recorded in 2025 through collaboration across all cadres.

According to him, the commitment and dedication of staff have driven the ministry’s success, fostered creativity and pushed boundaries, but stressed the need to reassess past efforts and chart new strategies for improved performance in 2026.

He emphasised that the year ahead would require stronger collaboration, stability and deliberate efforts to explore new ideas, noting that citizen feedback remained a critical tool for improving efficiency and service delivery.

“The feedback is the most important tool for all of us to act and be better than we are today.

“And I believe that when we create innovative ways of getting feedback and making physical contacts with the people that we serve, then we will be happy to do better than we had expected,” the PS said.

In a presentation, the Permanent Secretary, Office of Transformation, Creativity and Innovation (OTCI), Mrs. Toyin Anjous-Ademuyiwa, stressed the importance of innovation, collaboration and feedback in public service delivery.

Speaking on “Human-Centric Service Delivery and Environmental Governance,” Anjous-Ademuyiwa said innovation was no longer optional, adding that, business-as-usual was unsustainable in the face of rising citizen expectations, limited public resources and complex governance challenges.

She called on leaders to encourage creative ideas from staff, warning that innovation would be stifled if failure was punished, while also stressing the need to break silo mentality, strengthen capacity building and reward outstanding innovations.

“My office has been put in a place where innovation is open to everybody, a circular has gone out now. So, its not limited to a specific department or agency,” she said.

Responding to questions, Anjous-Ademuyiwa said the state had mechanisms for rewarding or sharing patent rights for commercialised innovations, adding that, a 2016 law review allowed civil servants to deploy their ideas to improve service delivery or generate revenue for the state.

She announced that three winners of leading innovations in 2025 will have their ideas implemented and urged directors to embrace a mindset shift that acknowledges ingenuity of junior workers.

Also, the Director of Environmental Assessment, Mr. Sojinu Olasunkanmi, said Lagos State was adopting data-driven reforms, deeper stakeholder engagement and long-term policy measures to address worsening air and water pollution.

Olasunkanmi said scientific data revealed elevated levels of air pollutants, including particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides in parts of the state, largely due to high-sulphur fuel and poorly maintained vehicles.

He also disclosed that water quality assessments identified pollution hotspots linked to human activities, underscoring the need for behavioural change and stricter controls.

According to him, the ministry would move beyond awareness campaigns by using scientific data to guide policies, engaging transport unions, regulators and policymakers, and applying enforcement after stakeholders understand the environmental and health implications.

He added that the retreat examined potential groundwater contamination risks from public cemeteries, noting that guidelines on cemetery locations, buffer zones and maintenance would be introduced if risks were confirmed.

Olasunkanmi identified improved public water supply as a long-term solution, urging reliance on treated water from public waterworks rather than boreholes.

An environmental expert, Dr. Feyi Oni of the University of Lagos, commended Lagos State for achieving environmental assessment standards comparable to international and World Health Organisation benchmarks, saying the data generated would support future environmental laws and people-centred governance.