SAD! LAGOS STREET SWEEPERS PROTEST NON-PAYMENT OF FIVE MONTH SALARIES

Its so pathetic to see  scores of highway sweepers early this morning under the Lagos State Waste Management

Authority (LAWMA) on Monday stormed the Lagos State House of Assembly

protesting non-payment of their salary arrears by the state

government.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that the sweepers were

protesting the non-payment of five months salary by the authority.

They carried placards with various inscriptions such as “We deserve to

be paid for our toiling”; “Life is now difficult, save us from

poverty”; “Help us, we have suffered much,” among others.

The sweepers urged the state lawmakers to intervene in order to

alleviate the economic hardship they were experiencing.

According to them, the refusal of LAWMA to pay their salaries for five

months consecutively, has made life unbearable for them.

One of the sweepers, Mrs Yemisi Oresanwo, noted that life had become

difficult for her and her family since they had been transfer from the

Ministry of the Environment (MOE) to LAWMA,

Oresanwo, who is a supervisor for Ikeja zone, explained that sweepers

received N12,000 while supervisors collected N20,000 monthly.

She said that it had been difficult for the sweepers and their

supervisors to survive.

“I am being owed five months while others are also being owed between

three and four months salary.

“So we want government to come to our aid.

“Since we were transferred from MOE to LAWMA, the latter has been

responsible for payment of our salaries until recently when they

refused to pay us.

“LAWMA has been paying its own workers but has neglected us,’’ she said.

Also speaking, Mr Abidemi Najeem, representing Jibowu-Fadeyi zone of

the sweepers, said that the sweepers could no longer bare the hardship

arising from non-payment of their salary.

“Schools will resume this month and we anticipate further hardship as

we may not be able to pay our children’s school fees, if this

situation continues.

“We are also expecting Ileya festival (Eid-Ul-Kabir); how do they

expect us to take care of ourselves and family members?’’ he queried.

Najeem urged the state government to clarify the ambiguity about

whether the sweepers were under LAWMA or MOE