By Isqil Najim
In fulfillment of its professional social responsibility, the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Ibeju-Lekki Branch, under the leadership of Engr. Olufemi Dare, through its Young Engineers Forum of Nigeria (YEFON) on Saturday morning, executed a sweeping community sanitation exercise tagged the “Keep Ibeju-Lekki Clean: Community Development & Environmental Stewardship Initiative.”
The exercise, which commenced at exactly 6.30 AM at Eleko Market along the Lekki-Epe Expressway, saw engineers and allied professionals trade their professional tools for brooms, shovels, and refuse bags — all in service of the environment that sustains their community. Undeterred by the elements, the team, led personally by the Branch Chairman, Engr. Olufemi Dare, worked diligently under the early morning rain to ensure the exercise achieved its objectives.
Environmental sanitation has long formed a cornerstone of public health and urban management policy in Lagos State. As Africa’s largest megacity, Lagos grapples daily with the mounting pressures of rapid urbanisation, population explosion, and the environmental consequences that accompany both. The Ibeju-Lekki axis, which is experiencing some of the fastest real estate and industrial growth in Nigeria, is particularly vulnerable. The rapid pace of development has consistently outpaced the deployment of adequate waste management infrastructure, making community-led sanitation initiatives not just welcome but urgently necessary.
Beyond the physical cleanliness, clogged drainage systems are among the leading contributors to the perennial flooding that devastates communities across Lagos during the rainy season — displacing residents, destroying property, and disrupting commerce. Diseases such as malaria, cholera, and typhoid thrive in refuse-choked, waterlogged environments. Standing water in blocked drains provides ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes, while refuse heaps attract rodents that serve as vectors for a range of communicable diseases.
Our correspondent, who monitored the event at the Eleko Market junction, presented a familiar yet troubling spectacle before the exercise began. There were overflowing gutters packed with plastic bottles, food waste, and years of accumulated silt, and mounds of indiscriminately dumped refuse that had long encroached upon pedestrian walkways near the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base.
By 7:00 AM, that picture had begun to change as Members of the NSE Ibeju-Lekki Branch, identifiable in their reflective green vests, were deployed across the corridor in structured teams. Working with the methodical efficiency one might expect of the engineering profession, the volunteers set about three principal areas of intervention.
Among the professionals who actively participated in and led this initiative were Engr. Tunji Babalola, Engr. Bello Tirimisiyy, Engr. Olukos Tinude, Engr. Lola Adetona Nice Lagos, Engr. Taiwo Musa, and Engr. Ben Nwankwo, along with several other dedicated members.
Teams worked to dislodge and remove thick layers of sludge, compacted refuse, and plastic debris from the drainage systems lining the expressway. A payload excavator was also deployed to tackle the massive mounds of refuse that had accumulated over months at illegal dumpsites along the corridor. Elsewhere, volunteers swept highway verges and public spaces, bagging waste for collection.
To ensure a lasting impact, a dedicated truck was engaged by the Branch to evacuate and properly dispose of all collected waste, leaving the market environment significantly cleaner and more organized. To further support the initiative and ensure its sustainability, the Chairman of Ibeju-Lekki Local Government, Engr. Abdullahi Sesan Olowa, donated two waste tricycles (Keke-Jaja) to the community. These will enhance waste evacuation and ensure sustained environmental cleanliness within the market and its environs.
By mid-morning, drains that had not run freely in months were flowing unobstructed; pedestrian walkways that residents had long abandoned to encroaching refuse were reclaimed; and the general atmosphere along the busy commercial corridor had visibly transformed.
Perhaps equally significant is what the initiative represents. In a community under the pressures of rapid urbanisation, the intervention of a professional body of this calibre sends a powerful message that the engineering profession sees itself not merely as the architect of infrastructure, but as an active custodian of the environments its work shapes. The initiative is already being described by observers as a potential model for other professional associations operating in Lagos and beyond.
What the NSE Ibeju-Lekki Branch have demonstrated on this Saturday is that professional bodies need not wait for government to fill every gap. Where infrastructure deficits and municipal capacity limitations create visible harm to communities, professionals possess both the competence and the moral authority to act.
The exercise in Ibeju-Lekki is a reminder that engineering at its finest is a public service and that the work of building a better Nigeria happens not only in factories and on project sites, but sometimes in the community.
Isqil Najim can be reached on Linkedin HERE
