They remain outlawed — State Govt
They have been outlawed, but they have not disappeared. Across Lagos, scavengers still roam streets and communities at almost all hours, combing neighbourhoods for scraps, even as allegations of theft and vandalism increasingly trail their activities. Worried residents say their continued presence is giving them sleepless nights, while communities are resorting to their own security measures to keep them out. Dayo Ayeyemi and Francis Iwuchukwu report on the growing concerns over scavengers in Lagos and the apparent difficulty in enforcing the government’s ban.
In January 2025, members of the Lagos State House of Assembly resolved to curb manhole theft and the illegal activities of scavengers in the state.
The lawmakers made the resolution while debating a motion titled, “Motion to Curb the Activities of Scavengers and Manhole Theft in Lagos”, moved by Hon. Gbolahon Yishawu (Eti-Osa 2).
According to the lawmakers, if the menace of scavenging and manhole theft is not checked in the state, it could lead to an increase in accidents and blockage of drainage systems.
The House, therefore, called on the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, to sanction scavengers and cart pushers in order to curb their nefarious activities.
The lawmakers also called on the state government to enforce all relevant environmental laws, stating that there were sufficient laws to curtail such illegal acts in the state.
Interestingly, events and developments within the city in the past few months regarding the activities of scavengers are making it increasingly imperative for the state government to act on the lawmakers’ resolution and save residents and public infrastructure from what some have described as a “disaster waiting to happen”.
Investigations by Saturday Tribune, for instance, revealed that scavengers have, of late, become increasingly daring. A common sight in the city, they parade and stroll through virtually every nook and cranny, looking for empty cans, disused iron rods and used PET bottles. It is generally believed that they collect these items for sale as scrap to those in the recycling business as a means of earning a livelihood.
But, of late, residents have become wary that the ranks of these seemingly “innocent” scavengers are being infiltrated by criminal elements. Reports regarding the activities of some of them in the past few years show that they are increasingly taking advantage of unsuspecting residents and even compromising public infrastructure under the guise of scavenging.
Their searches have, of late, gone beyond empty cans, disused iron rods and PET bottles. Some allegedly steal residents’ belongings, especially when residents let down their guard, and also vandalise public facilities.
And tales of such incidents abound. For instance, no fewer than 1,800 manhole covers have reportedly been stolen along the Lagos section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway between January and August 2026, while over 4,000 manholes were said to have been vandalised across various local government and local council development areas in the state.
Residents are not spared either
There was a time one of the slabs, made of heavy steel, which we used to cover our culvert to enable us to drive into the compound, was picked by these guys,” Hakeem, a resident of Olorunto in Oke Odo Local Council Development Area of the state, complained to Saturday Tribune.
According to him, residents only discovered that the item was missing long after it had been stolen since it was not the only slab there. He expressed shock that a slab that heavy could be stolen without anybody noticing.
For Segun Odunewu, the Public Relations Officer of Abesan Estate, residents of the estate are conscious of the nefarious activities of some of these people and have deployed strategies to check them.
According to him, while the estate authorities could not restrict anybody from entering the estate, the movement of such individuals could, however, be restricted within it.
“Those people steal a lot. And what we have done is to divide the estate into sectors. That means while anybody, including the scavengers, can walk on the major roads within the estate, they are, however, not allowed to move into the zones, that is, go near the buildings where people reside. Such steps have become imperative because those people are capable of doing anything.
“We’ve heard different reports about them, and we believe if they could damage government bridges all in the name of extracting iron rods, that means they are capable of doing anything,” he stated.
Besides, he added, the estate had also put up banners at strategic locations, warning scavengers that they were unwanted guests within the estate.
The Chairman of Olorunto Landlords Association, Mr Matthew Ajala, also expressed concerns over the activities of the scavengers. According to him, the community had also placed banners outlawing the activities of such people on its streets.
“They no longer come to our street and the entire community because every street has such a banner at its entrance and exit, and they have no choice but to obey. Sometimes, they make the mistake of entering the street and once we draw their attention to the banner, they take to their heels,” he added.
While Mr Rasheed Okoya threw his weight behind the steps taken by the various communities to secure their domains from scavengers, he, however, expressed regret that the situation had degenerated to that level.
Rasheed, an electronics technician, stated that scavengers used to be his major means of disposing of unused items in his shop in the past.
, but they have not disappeared. Across Lagos, scavengers still roam streets and communities at almost all hours, combing neighbourhoods for scraps, even as allegations of theft and vandalism increasingly trail their activities. Worried residents say their continued presence is giving them sleepless nights, while communities are resorting to their own security measures to keep them out. Dayo Ayeyemi and Francis Iwuchukwu report on the growing concerns over scavengers in Lagos and the apparent difficulty in enforcing the government’s ban.
In January 2025, members of the Lagos State House of Assembly resolved to curb manhole theft and the illegal activities of scavengers in the state.
The lawmakers made the resolution while debating a motion titled, “Motion to Curb the Activities of Scavengers and Manhole Theft in Lagos”, moved by Hon. Gbolahon Yishawu (Eti-Osa 2).
According to the lawmakers, if the menace of scavenging and manhole theft is not checked in the state, it could lead to an increase in accidents and blockage of drainage systems.
The House, therefore, called on the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, to sanction scavengers and cart pushers in order to curb their nefarious activities.
The lawmakers also called on the state government to enforce all relevant environmental laws, stating that there were sufficient laws to curtail such illegal acts in the state.
Interestingly, events and developments within the city in the past few months regarding the activities of scavengers are making it increasingly imperative for the state government to act on the lawmakers’ resolution and save residents and public infrastructure from what some have described as a “disaster waiting to happen”.
Investigations by Saturday Tribune, for instance, revealed that scavengers have, of late, become increasingly daring. A common sight in the city, they parade and stroll through virtually every nook and cranny, looking for empty cans, disused iron rods and used PET bottles. It is generally believed that they collect these items for sale as scrap to those in the recycling business as a means of earning a livelihood.
But, of late, residents have become wary that the ranks of these seemingly “innocent” scavengers are being infiltrated by criminal elements. Reports regarding the activities of some of them in the past few years show that they are increasingly taking advantage of unsuspecting residents and even compromising public infrastructure under the guise of scavenging.
Their searches have, of late, gone beyond empty cans, disused iron rods and PET bottles. Some allegedly steal residents’ belongings, especially when residents let down their guard, and also vandalise public facilities.
And tales of such incidents abound. For instance, no fewer than 1,800 manhole covers have reportedly been stolen along the Lagos section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway between January and August 2026, while over 4,000 manholes were said to have been vandalised across various local government and local council development areas in the state.
Residents are not spared either.
“There was a time one of the slabs, made of heavy steel, which we used to cover our culvert to enable us to drive into the compound, was picked by these guys,” Hakeem, a resident of Olorunto in Oke Odo Local Council Development Area of the state, complained to Saturday Tribune.
According to him, residents only discovered that the item was missing long after it had been stolen since it was not the only slab there. He expressed shock that a slab that heavy could be stolen without anybody noticing.
For Segun Odunewu, the Public Relations Officer of Abesan Estate, residents of the estate are conscious of the nefarious activities of some of these people and have deployed strategies to check them.
According to him, while the estate authorities could not restrict anybody from entering the estate, the movement of such individuals could, however, be restricted within it.
“Those people steal a lot. And what we have done is to divide the estate into sectors. That means while anybody, including the scavengers, can walk on the major roads within the estate, they are, however, not allowed to move into the zones, that is, go near the buildings where people reside. Such steps have become imperative because those people are capable of doing anything.
“We’ve heard different reports about them, and we believe if they could damage government bridges all in the name of extracting iron rods, that means they are capable of doing anything,” he stated.
Besides, he added, the estate had also put up banners at strategic locations, warning scavengers that they were unwanted guests within the estate.
The Chairman of Olorunto Landlords Association, Mr Matthew Ajala, also expressed concerns over the activities of the scavengers. According to him, the community had also placed banners outlawing the activities of such people on its streets.
“They no longer come to our street and the entire community because every street has such a banner at its entrance and exit, and they have no choice but to obey. Sometimes, they make the mistake of entering the street and once we draw their attention to the banner, they take to their heels,” he added.
While Mr Rasheed Okoya threw his weight behind the steps taken by the various communities to secure their domains from scavengers, he, however, expressed regret that the situation had degenerated to that level.
Rasheed, an electronics technician, stated that scavengers used to be his major means of disposing of unused items in his shop in the past.
“Before things suddenly took this negative turn, they used to come to my place and help me clear the shop of disused radios, TV sets and other electronic accessories, and even pay a token to me for doing that. Unfortunately, the thieves among them have succeeded in shutting society’s door against the innocent ones,” he added.
Disaster waiting to happen
Decrying the activities of scavengers and the vandalisation of bridge components, an expert in the nation’s built environment, Kunle Awobodu, urged the state government to be more proactive in preventing the destruction of public facilities by scavengers operating across the city.
He pointed out that bridge underpasses in Lagos were gradually being converted into rooms, with people living and paying rent there, citing the Opebi, Ikoyi and Yaba bridges.
He said: “For instance, we have a flurry of activities going on daily below the Opebi Link Bridge. People have turned the bridge underpass into rooms, and these rooms are controlled by street urchins.
“Government has not been paying attention to those activities. During the regime of Fashola, he ensured every bridge underpass was beautified so as to prevent it from becoming a den of criminals because, then, most of those places were criminals’ hideouts. They were renting the bridge underpasses to people to sleep under the control of area boys.
“Vandalism by scavengers is all over the place. Most of the aluminium rails on the Third Mainland Bridge have been stolen. They sold them as scrap. It’s a criminal issue that the police should be involved in,” he added.
According to him, many of those bridge underpasses are being managed by “baales”. He, therefore, urged the government to factor the baales into the security architecture to enable them to monitor and guard the bridges against the activities of vandals.
Also speaking to Saturday Tribune on the issue, another expert, Engineer Oyenuga, noted that besides the financial loss, it was painful to see infrastructure on which Nigerians depend being vandalised.
He described the vandalisation of bridge support systems as a “disaster waiting to happen”.
“If one of the pillars fails, it will transfer more loads to other pillars, which may be too heavy for them to carry, leading to total collapse,” he said.
Apart from this, he said the collapse of a bridge would be a huge loss to the country, estimating that it could cost more than N6 billion to build a new structure if a bridge failed.
He called on the government to make public declarations about the health of bridges and other public infrastructure in the country so as to determine the extent to which some of those facilities had been compromised.
Existing laws sufficient to handle criminal acts — SAN
Giving a legal perspective to the issue, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Solo Akuma, argued that Nigeria does not require new legislation to address criminal activities allegedly perpetrated by some persons under the guise of scavenging.
According to the legal expert, existing criminal laws are sufficient to deal with offenders.
Speaking on how best to address the growing concerns surrounding scavenging, Chief Akuma noted that although many scavengers legitimately depend on the activity for their livelihood, a fraction of persons involved in the trade allegedly engage in theft, vandalism and the destruction of government and private property.
The senior lawyer declared that it was important to distinguish between legitimate scavengers who search dump sites for recyclable or valuable materials and criminal elements who allegedly exploit scavenging as a cover for unlawful activities.
Akuma said: “Some people have found scavenging as a means of livelihood, and there are those who are not criminals among them, who go to dump sites to search for anything valuable they can sell to make a living.”
However, the SAN expressed concern over what he described as a fraction of persons who allegedly abandon legitimate scavenging and instead break into people’s premises, damage public facilities and steal government or private property for resale.
Chief Akuma explained that existing provisions under the Criminal Code and Penal Code already provide legal mechanisms for prosecuting offences such as theft, burglary and destruction of property.
He contended that the major challenge was not the absence of adequate laws but the need for security agencies to be more proactive in preventing and responding to criminal activities.
The senior legal luminary maintained that effective intelligence gathering, surveillance and policing could help security agencies identify and arrest persons allegedly involved in criminal acts linked to scavenging before such activities become widespread.
According to Akuma: “If the security agencies are proactive, they’ll be able to arrest the criminals and then deal with them according to law.”According to the SAN, failure by relevant authorities to act promptly could allow criminal elements operating under the guise of scavenging to continue their activities unchecked.
However, the senior lawyer called for improved monitoring and protection of government facilities and other public assets rather than the enactment of fresh legislation specifically targeted at scavengers.
“The proper thing to do is not to crave new legislation, but to call for proper monitoring of government and policing of government assets so that people will not interfere with them,” he said.Akuma maintained that anyone found destroying or damaging government property or the belongings of private citizens in the name of scavenging should be arrested, investigated and prosecuted in accordance with existing laws.
The lawyer stressed that while legitimate scavengers should not be automatically criminalised, those who engage in theft, vandalism or other criminal conduct must be held accountable.
When contacted, Director of Public Affairs of the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Kunle Adeshina, disclosed that the activities of scavengers and cart pushers remained outlawed in the state.
The response followed a query by Saturday Tribune on the position of the ministry on scavengers and the number of culprits arrested so far following the recent vandalisation of the Festac-Alakija Bridge in Lagos.
He added that the decision to outlaw their activities in the state stemmed from concerns expressed by residents and the danger their activities pose to public infrastructure.
Soothing as the ministry’s assurance to the public may be, residents of the state are still concerned that the government’s directive in this regard is not being obeyed.
“The development is giving us sleepless nights. We still see these people at any time of the day, even till the unholy hours of the night, despite their activities being outlawed. We are wary of the security implications of their actions for our well-being, and that is why we want the government to act decisively now,” said a resident of Agbelekale, a community in Agbado Oke Odo Local Council Development Area of the state, who did not want his name in print for security reasons.
Cc: Nigerian Tribune