The problems associated with contract employment in the Nigerian labour market reared their ugly heads last week when a female street sweeper, who declined to disclose her name, went on a lone protest in Lagos to draw attention to the plight she and her 16,488 colleagues face.
According to her in an appeal to the Lagos State Waste Management Agency, LAWMA, the promised payment of the minimum wage adopted by the Lagos State Government, LASG, has yet to be extended to them. Sweepers still receive between N30,000 and N40,000 per month. Some sweepers even go for months without being paid, while others complain of arbitrary deductions by the contractors who handle their engagement with the state government.
She complained that most of them are forced to purchase their work tools with their money without repayment. Also, the sweepers face grave health risks from the dust and dirt, as well as threats of accidents and death, allegedly without health benefits, risk allowances or compensation. This is different from the welfare of LAWMA staff who enjoy food, medical and transport benefits.
LAWMA’s CEO, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin, responded to media enquiries, explaining that the sweepers are engaged through contractors, and that their terms of engagement are “clearly defined”. He insinuated that the contractors are responsible for them. He assured of LAWMA’s commitment to their welfare, such as regular health checks, safety training and accident and emergency insurance.
Gbadegesin also promised to look into the allegations of “salary discrepancies and contractual violations”.
Many states that employ street sweepers engage them through politically-connected contractors. In Lagos, many of these contractors see their portion of street sweepers as their own share of belonging to the state’s ruling political machine. They feel entitled to act with impunity. Some of them are so powerful that civil servants can hardly approach them to ensure fair execution of their contractual obligations to the sweepers.
Street sweepers should be bona fide staff of LAWMA and similar state waste management bodies throughout the federation. We abhor the idea of abandoning them in the hands of Shylock contractors. We are against any form of contract or indirect employment that provides the loophole for government to abdicate responsibility for workers’ welfare.
They should be fully absorbed into the Lagos State Civil Service to enable them become members of Labour unions. This will automatically entitle them to the new minimum wage of N85,000 adopted by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Street sweepers are natural adjuncts of LAWMA. They clean up after LAWMA officials evacuate refuse. They keep our major highways clean, bring out the aesthetics of road infrastructure and boost sanitation. Nobody who works for government, no matter how remotely connected, should earn less than the minimum wage.
The welfare of the lowest and most vulnerable public sector workers should always come first.
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