Lagos State cannot continue to explain away its worsening waste management crisis with excuses and admissions of poor planning, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) House of Assembly candidate for Eti-Osa Constituency II, Ayodele Adio, has said. Adio was reacting to comments by the Lagos State Deputy Governor, who reportedly said the government had asked waste management operators to undertake a job whose scale they “did not predict” and that the government initially thought the state was generating about 13,000 tonnes of waste daily. According to him, the Deputy Governor’s comments expose a deeper problem of poor planning and a lack of imagination within the state government. Adio argued that Lagos needs a fundamental rethink of its waste management architecture, including better data, modern waste collection systems, stronger enforcement, investment in recycling and waste-to-energy infrastructure, and incentives that integrate the informal recycling economy into a properly regulated system. What we lack is sufficient imagination, accountability and the willingness to redesign systems that are no longer fit for purpose,” he said.