Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has replaced the former Managing Director of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin, with Olajuwon Akinyemi in an acting capacity.
The change is part of a wider overhaul of the authority that will also see the redeployment of senior officers to other parts of the Lagos State public service, in what an insider described as a comprehensive reorganisation of its leadership and operations.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, confirmed Akinyemi’s appointment on Tuesday, saying the governor had directed him to assume office immediately.
The Daily Post, citing anonymous sources, reported that Sanwo-Olu had also appointed Dr Tijani Olorunwa as Acting Director of Operations, while Kunle Adebiyi would retain his position as Executive Director of Finance.
The source said the governor had ordered the redeployment of officers on Salary Grade Levels 13 to 17 to the mainstream civil service, local governments, and local council development areas.
“To improve service delivery and support sustainable organisational growth, Governor Sanwo-Olu has ordered the total reorganisation, mass transfer, and overhaul of LAWMA leadership,” the source said.
The exercise, however, excludes personnel in the authority’s Legal Department to prevent disruption to ongoing court proceedings and concession agreements.
The heads of Landfill Operations, LAWMA Operations, and Private Sector Participation Operations have also been exempted from the redeployment for an initial 90 days to allow the new management to stabilise the agency and maintain continuity in waste collection.
The leadership change comes against the backdrop of a waste management crisis that has left refuse accumulating along roads, residential streets, and drainage channels in several parts of Lagos, despite the governor’s earlier declaration of a state of emergency in the sector
