TRENDING: If Lagos Stinks, What About the Rest of Nigeria?

On social media, Lagos State has become Nigeria’s poster child for a stinky environment. However, critics of this characterisation reject the idea, arguing that Lagos is being scapegoated for a country that smells.

A simple Google search of “Does Nigeria smell?” offers great insight into the crux of the odour conversation in Nigeria. The search returns mostly stories about Lagos, with almost no mention of the remaining 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

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In recent days, Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, has had to respond to several criticisms of the state’s air quality. He has described those criticisms as efforts to “tarnish the reputation” of the state.

“It is regrettable that some who relocate from their home states in pursuit of better opportunities quickly, in less than a month or two, resort to disparaging the very state that has provided them the platform to thrive,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, last Saturday.

Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab

The extra focus on Lagos’s stench did not start in May 2025.

In a report titled Worsening Living Conditions in Nigerian Cities: THE CASE OF LAGOS, in 2003, Analysis magazine reported that “everywhere” in Lagos was “littered with refuse and stench emanating from the pile of littered refuse.”

“From whatever route one enters Lagos—either from the airport, the seaport, or the road—one is always confronted with littered refuse, stench, air and water pollution. As one goes deeper into the city, the situation gets worse,” the report from over two decades ago read.

With Lagos at the heart of conversations around environmental health, the other 35 states and the FCT often get a pass, but do they deserve it? Reality suggests otherwise.

Other states smell too, but they fly under the radar

Many photos show stagnant water due to poor drainage systems and mismanaged dumpsites in Lagos. But these photos could have been taken in most Nigerian states.

While Lagos often gets all the attention for being the commercial nerve centre of the nation, the entire country has all the right ingredients—indiscriminate waste disposal, poor waste management, and inadequate drainage systems—to smell.

A 2021 report by Starnews Nigeria described Akure, the capital of Ondo State, as facing significant refuse problems, with piles of waste accumulating on major streets like Arakale, Cathedral, and Oja-Oba roads.

Cathedral road in Akure (Photo: Star News)

Residents noted an “unbearable stench” due to ineffective waste management by the Ondo State Waste Management Board.

According to the report, Akure generates more refuse than it can handle, posing health risks and contributing to a persistent smell in the urban environment.

In April 2022, Daily Trust reported that refuse had taken over Nnewi in Anambra State, triggering a severe stench in the area.

“Though indiscriminate waste disposal is not new in Nnewi, with the recent Christmas and New Year celebrations, the quantity of waste generated increased significantly—so also the stench,” the report read in part.

“Despite the flashy cars and magnificent buildings that adorn the town, the heap of refuse lowers the attractiveness of the city.”

In August 2012, Premium Times reported on Abia State’s “overflowing mountains of rubbish” with the scathing headline: “Aba [the commercial hub of Abia State] stinks, residents fume.”

Nine years later, in November 2021, the Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy and Development (FENRAD) lamented the environmental decline and degradation in Abia, especially in Aba, describing it as a “stinking city.”

In July 2024, the Renaissance Care and Empowerment Foundation (RECEF Nigeria), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), raised the alarm over a possible epidemic in Kogi following stinking refuse dumps littering many parts of the state.

“The streets from Lokongoma down to the New Market/Nataco axis are now overrun with unremoved waste, turning our once vibrant city into a breeding ground for diseases and environmental hazards,” the group said.

In 2023, Prime Time News reported indiscriminate dumping of refuse in Kano.

“The situation caused flooding in the area and emitted an unbearable stench,” the report stated in part.

This reporter has spent a generous amount of time in Ibadan (the capital of Oyo State), Ilorin (the capital of Kwara State), and the FCT, Abuja, and can confirm that the air in most parts of these cities does smell, bad. This offensive odour often comes from familiar sources such as uncovered drainages clogged by indiscriminate waste disposal.

Oranyan community of Ibadan, Oyo State, stinks due to open defecation (Photo: Philip Ibitoye)

Recently, this reporter documented how some communities in the heart of Ibadan have lived in stench for decades due to a sanitation crisis with no end in sight.

Any of the reports cited here could apply to most communities across Nigeria due to a generally poor attitude towards waste disposal and management.

So, why does Lagos get all the flak?

Despite the movement of the Federal Capital to Abuja, Lagos remains Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, encouraging the influx of people from various parts of the country.

With a landmass of just 3,671 square kilometres and the title of the smallest state in the country, Lagos is home to 11% of Nigeria’s population, creating a challenging environment for adequate waste management.

For an overpopulated state with limited space and without a modern sewage system, the stench from waste and refuse is more pronounced and creates a more severe environmental hazard compared to other states.

Despite multiple agencies in Lagos working hard to combat indiscriminate waste disposal across the state, the environmental crisis continues to be a major challenge for officials.

“Yes, parts of Lagos continue to struggle with waste, drainage, and environmental stress,” the Commissioner for the Environment wrote on X on Monday.

While the state government could manage waste more effectively, residents are often caught worsening the situation through the indiscriminate dumping of refuse on roads and in drainage systems, with little regard for the consequences.

“All residents—migrants and indigenes alike—have a shared civic responsibility to uphold basic environmental standards. Paying tax is not a waiver from compliance with environmental laws,” Wahab said on Monday.

“Illegal dumping of waste, failure to pay waste bills, and misuse of public spaces are issues of law; they have nothing to do with state of origin.”

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While Lagos is often singled out due to its high population density (over 20 million residents) and visibility as Nigeria’s economic hub, the evidence clearly shows that refuse and odour issues are systemic across Nigerian states.

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