‘We face death daily to earn peanuts’

DAYO AYEYEMI reports the peculiar world of street sweepers and the deadly assignment they daily carry out in return for a pittance.

ACTING Managing Director of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Ibrahim Odumboni, at a recent event for the celebration of women, asked for a minute’s silence in honour of a street sweeper who was killed by a hit-and-run driver on November 18.

In the official records of the agency, three years, between 2007 and 2010, were particularly bad for the sweepers who lost 57 of their colleagues to motorists who killed them in the course of doing their job.

In January, a sweeper known as Tawa Ariyo reportedly escaped death by a whisker after being crushed against a stationary petrol tanker by a motorist allegedly conveying the wife of a soldier.

In 2019, in Ojuelegba, Surulere, an unlucky sweeper was killed on duty.

On November 3, 2018, a road sweeper was also killed by a driver on Osborne Road, Ikoyi. The driver reportedly ran over her after losing control of the vehicle. She died instantly.

In 2015, a sweeper identified as Bisi was killed in an accident on Third Mainland Bridge when a vehicle reportedly driven by a military officer had a burst tyre and somersaulted several times before knocking her off the bridge.

In 2014, a pregnant road sweeper identified as Kikelomo Bamidele, who was engaged by LAWMA, was crushed to death by a petrol tanker on the Lagos Ibadan Expressway.

There is dignity in labour, so they say. But for Mrs Aina, 38, working as a street sweeper or highway manager in metropolitan Lagos – the most populous city in West Africa – is a challenging experience, going by the risks associated with the job.

She has to be at her duty post by 5.00 a.m. every day in order to get the job of making Lagos clean done before the day’s vehicular traffic builds up. Even in an extreme traffic situation, she has to find a way around ensuring she is not found wanting on duty.

But despite the precarious nature of her duty, Aina, who refused to mention her second name, said she was not happy the way street sweepers were being treated by the government, passers-by, motorists, commercial danfo drivers and okada riders. She said that in many situations, sweepers’ safety had been threatened by reckless behaviours of danfo drivers and okada riders on major highways and bus stops.

She went down memory lane and narrated how she and other colleagues were engaged by LAWMA in 2009 during former Governor Babatunde Fashola’s administration and later by the succeeding Akinwumi Ambode’s regime before the current administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Despite her experience over the years, Aina’s story was full of lamentations as she claimed that street sweepers have not been fairly treated. According to her, the most annoying aspect was the delay in the payment of their meager salary by the service providers that engaged them for the government. She said the salary was N15,000 before it was increased to N25,000 per month, yet “it never gets paid until the end of another month.”

Aina, who is one of the more than 7,500 street sweepers employed by 120 service providers across the state, was not alone in this matter as other sweepers in locations such as Berger, Ojota, Ikeja, Anthony, Oshodi, Adeniji and Obalende, who spoke with Saturday Tribune also shared stories similar to hers. Their demands were almost the same.

 

Oath of secrecy?

The way the street sweepers guarded their full identities during chats with Saturday Tribune almost suggested that an oath of secrecy might have been administered on them at a point during the employment process. They seemed to be worried that being found to be spilling the beans about their conditions would have dire consequences for them. Most of them simply refused to mention their names and were completely opposed to having their pictures taken as a necessity for the press interview.

Their major challenges, according to findings, border on low remuneration, absence of insurance, lack of health care, danger of hit-and-run motorists, danfo and okada menace and delay in the payment of salary, among others. Some of them alleged that they did not have safety boots, hand gloves and other kits except the jacket they put on. “Even the pullover/jackets of many of us have become worn-out without hope for immediate replacement,” one of them said.

Another sweeper, Oderinde, explained that most street sweepers were engaged by contractors under three authorities in the state. According to her, there are those employed by LAWMA who are responsible for the cleaning of highways and streets. “There are those employed by the Lagos Metropolitan Transport Authority (LAMATA). This category comprises sweepers responsible for cleaning all the public parks and garages. Then we have those that are employed by the National Union Road Transport Workers (NURTW). You can identify them by the jacket they put on,” she said.

Besides, she stated that their closing time is different, disclosing that LAWMA’s sweepers close for the day by 2.00 p.m., while LAMATA’s sweepers usually close by 4.00 p.m. She said from N12,000  per month when she joined LAWMA as a street sweeper 10 years ago, workers’ salary had been increased twice to the current pay-package of N25,000. She bemoaned the “meager salary,” saying it was not enough for street sweepers to take home, considering their enormous family needs and the risk involved in the job.

For now, Oderinde, a mother of four, said she had no option but to continue doing the work. According to her, life has been very difficult since she lost her husband five years ago. She said she once quit the job but came back when life took a turn for the worse after the death of her husband. She begged the authorities to ensure prompt payment of sweepers’ salary, going by the promise made to them that things would change for the better by January 2021.

 

Hit-and-run

Stella, a mother of two, complained about the menace of motorists, danfo drivers and okada riders, saying she was hit by a motorist around 7.00 a.m. on Wednesday (the day before the interview was conducted) while on duty. According to her, the motorist ran into her and pinned her against the bridge column in Ikeja. “It was the grace of God that there was no okada coming. A LASTMA official on the highway was the one that came to my rescue,” she said.

She urged the government to embark on “serious” enlightenment programmes for motorists and commercial danfo drivers on the need to drive carefully when they sight street sweepers.

Three sweepers that spoke at Berger Bus Stop said despite their meager salary, the government was still demanding tax receipts from them before their children could be admitted into secondary schools. One of them said she explained to the authorities of the school her children wanted to be enrolled in that she was a street sweeper on a salary of N25,000 but they insisted “I must show my tax receipt.” She appealed to the government to exclude sweepers from tax burden, saying that by the time she took care of transportation, rent and foodstuff, the money (salary) had been exhausted.

 

We owe one month’s salary –LAWMA

In a swift reaction, the Public Relations Officer of LAWMA, Hakeem Aromire, told Saturday Tribune that the allegation of irregular payment of salary was not true, saying the sweepers were only being owed only December salary. Besides, he said the state government had announced an insurance cover for street sweepers, adding that though cases of accident victims were not common, the few people that were affected were duly attended to and compensated.

 

Mum on sexual harassment

Another sweeper bemoaned government’s alleged insensitivity, claiming that in June, the authorities promised to put in place an insurance scheme for them and ensure prompt payment of their salary. According to him, the issue of insurance remains a promise, while salary payment is still being delayed till the next month. He added that the issue of health also remained a promise, saying none sweeper he knew had benefited from it. “You have to take care of your health from your meager salary,” he said.

Some of the street sweepers denied the allegation of sexual harassment,, saying no one had ever harassed them either during recruitment or in the course of their job.

But one sweeper said it was a difficult issue to talk about, while expressing concern that the reporter might have been recruited by the authorities to get the information in order to lay them off. “I don’t know maybe you are a proxy of the authorities to find some of the sweepers that are not loyal in order to lay them off,” she said. Despite assurances by the reporter, she declined to talk further, saying “no one is harassing anyone sexually here. We are working to take care of our family. More so, jobs are hard to get these days”.

She also decried the menace of okadas and NURTW workers, while imploring the government to enforce the barring of okada from major roads and engage the transporters on the safety of street sweepers.

Saturday Tribune gathered that some of the street sweepers were not engaged directly by LAWMA but through its contractors. The contractors engaged the road sweepers across the Lagos metropolis and they are responsible for their upkeep. The government will pay the contractors who in turn make disbursements to street sweepers. And in the process, salary gets delayed.

 

A life’s worth

While an official position wasn’t forthcoming on the actual amount payable as compensation to the families of a deceased sweeper, a case particularly stands out on the challenges being faced by the sweepers as regards the hazards that come with the job.

When Folashade Ogunniyi, a mother of three, was killed in a hit-and-run accident while working on the Third Mainland Bridge on August 20, 2019, what her immediate employers, offered as compensation was her salary for three months, which was N45,000 in total – at N15,000 per month.

The environment sanitation firm contracted to the state government had to face a legal challenge from a public-spirited lawyer on behalf of the family, which eventually won the sum of N2 million as compensation for the loss of the woman, whose body was only recovered from the lagoon three days after the incident.

After her case was highlighted by a national newspaper, Osita Enwe, a lawyer with SRJ Legal Practitioners, offered free legal services to the family and successfully reached an agreement for compensation among the company, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity and Sotanmi, the husband of the deceased.

Mr Sotanmi Ogunniyi, a private driver, explained that he had received N500,000 from the N2 million based on the agreement, while the rest would be paid at N100,000 per month for 15 months, from the day of the agreement.

Without the media and the pro bono offer, Folashade’s life-worth would have been pegged at N45,000.

 

Better days ahead –Govt

The LAWMA boss, Odumboni, however, assured the sweepers who he said were now seen as frontline stakeholders in the management of waste in the state. According to him, efforts had commenced on the implementation of the promised insurance policy. He said the policy would cover death, permanent disability and medical expenses, among other things.

“LAWMA has made a resolve, and unequivocally so, that the primary focus and the mandate of the authority in managing and regulation of waste will not be compromised, deploying the best global practices in achieving same, in line with the ‘THEMES’ agenda of the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in achieving a cleaner and healthier environment and the general wellbeing of Lagosians.”

He said the operation of LAWMA was such that it delineated the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas in the state into routes, noting: “These routes are, in turn, contracted out to managers or contractors, if you like. They are the ones who hire the sweepers and the supervisors directly.”

Daily waste generation in the metropolis has reportedly hit 13,000 metric tonnes, with stakeholders consistently demanding for a holistic approach to tackle the attendant challenges.

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