Lagos streets sweepers may go on rampage soon if the State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, fails to pay their backlog of salaries. The distraught sweepers took to the social media at the weekend to protest the non-payment of their salaries.
The sweepers appealed to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to call LAWMA’s Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Mr. Ibrahim Odumboni to order.
“We have been working for three consecutive months without receiving salaries. We are hungry and also have families to cater for. We are working without getting paid.
“We ensure Lagos roads are always neat, but we are not appreciated,” one of the supervisors said in a video on the social media.
He said the sweepers and supervisors worked from morning till 4pm daily.
The supervisor, who said, he is asthmatic, pleaded that he does not have money to buy drugs.
Another protester lamented that the sweepers have not been paid in the last three months.
The woman said despite her grey hair, LAWMA is denying them the opportunity to reap the fruit of their labour.
Some group of LAWMA supervisors, however, differed with the protesters over who owed them.
They said: “It is the contractors that are supposed to pay us, not LAWMA.”
The Acting Managing Director said the agency has begun an audit process to sanitise the system.
He said that the sweepers were directly engaged by the contractors of the agency, who were responsible for their monthly payments and upkeep.
Odumboni said that LAWMA had made April payments to the contractors for disbursement to their workers, adding that efforts are ongoing to ensure the prompt release of subsequent payments.
Muyideen Fadipe, who supervises Ebute Ero on Lagos Island, said he earns N50,000 monthly.
According to him, his salary was being paid by an agency headed by a woman called ‘Iron Lady’.
“I have 27 sweepers working with me. The sweepers are earning N30,000, while the supervisors are earning N50,000. March salary has been paid.
We were just being informed that the April salary has been paid. We went to ‘Iron Lady’ to collect ours, but she declined to pay us. LAWMA should help us order her to pay us,” he said.
Fadipe said the two months arrears were owed by the former LAWMA managing director.
“We have issues with the former LAWMA managing director. Since he was sacked, the salaries were delayed before the appointment of the new MD.
We find it difficult to supervise those working with us because of the non-payment of their salaries. The meagre salary is what we live on.
Our families are not enjoying us. We use the salaries to pay debts at the end of the month,” he said.
Another supervisor, Ganiyu Lasisi, alleged that the former LAWMA boss owed them.
Olasunkanmi Olanrewaju, who supervises sweepers at Mile 2, said he learnt that the new LAWMA chief is conducting auditing, hence the delay in payment of their salaries.
“We are not protesting against Ibrahim (Odumboni). Rather, we are protesting against the former managing director, who didn’t pay the salaries before his removal.
I come from Lagos Island to Mile 2. I spend a minimum of N600 daily. Some spend up to N900. I have about 31 sweepers working with me,” he said.
Nojimu Agbaje, who is monitoring Osborne to Falomo in Ikoyi, said: “After regular payment of two months, the former management of LAWMA started delaying the salaries.”
