300 sacked Lagos street sweepers disowned
News & Trends •
by florence onuegbu5 as discussed the transfer of ward level sanitation programme community sanitation workers to the lagos state government has rendered your position as sanitation supervisor redundant and your services will no longer be required with effect from 14th of june 20181 environmental utility firm visionscape sanitation solutions ltd vss told nan on sunday in lagos that the supervisors were employed for the lagos state government under the cleaner lagos initiative cli1 mr adebola shabi the special adviser to the governor on cli said the government had nothing to do with the news making the rounds that it had sacked the 300 supervisors1 shabi said that the cli contracted standard street manpower ltd. ssml on the employment of street sweepers1 according to him cleaner lagos is a government initiative not a contractor while visionscape is the contractor hence government can decide it does not want visionscape but cleaner lagos will remain1 maybe it is visionscape that sacked them cleaner lagos has not sacked anybody1 ssml is a consultant to the state government on engagement of sweepers but we have told them that at the end of june all sweepers should be handed over to the ministry of environment1 we dont know any issue about the sack i have been trying to get the information from visionscape and they are directing me to their head office1 the sack has nothing to do with cleaner lagos because we did not employ and we did not sack. lagos state does not believe in sacking people he said1 the head corporate communications visionscape mrs motunrayo elias told nan that the company was not the only contractor under the cli1 elias said that when the structure for waste management was put in place government said it wanted street sweepers to clean the inner streets among other arrangements1 there is confusion regarding the actual employers of the 300 street sweepers supervisors that were recently sacked in lagos state the news agency of nigeria nan reports1 elias said that the supervisors were hired by ssml but were trained by vss and worked with vss area managers to ensure the synergy of sweeping and packing the refuse1 now with the controversy about psp operators wanting to go back to work government said that the street sweepers should revert to them1 so if you have taken the street sweepers what are you going to do with their supervisors1 when we had a meeting the issue was brought up and government asked how much was the salary that was where the problem started1 government said it cannot afford the salary which was between n80000 to n120000 but can only pay n25000 per month1 so the company paid the supervisors their disengagement bonuses with visionscape paying them two months salaries while government was trying to decide1 for fact the supervisors were supposed to be transferred to the ministry of environment. it was a labour contract from the cli she said1 elias said that the structure that was put in place for waste management in the state injected income to the economy as people were better off1 she said that it was essential to take the good with the bad as nobody talked about the good that the whole system was doing when it was creating employment1 nan reports that the disengagement letters to the supervisors was signed by the head human resources and administration ssml oluwatoyin ayoola1 the letter reads in light of the recent review of the implementation of the cleaner lagos initiative and the impact of these changes on our operational requirements as discussed at our meeting held on the 2nd of june 2018 we regrettably write to inform you that it affects your employment with standard street manpower ltd1 she said that the structure for street sweepers supervisors was also put in place that was the arrangement between cli vss and ssml which was the company managing the street sweepers1