Edo State Street Sweepers Protest Poor Pay

Edo State street cleaners, who were majorly women, have protested against what they tagged as the low wages paid to them by the State Waste Management Board.
The women, dressed in their sweeping uniform displayed placards bearing messages such as, “We Need Increment In Our Monthly Salary”, “We Are Tired Of N17,820.00” as they arrived the premises of the Edo State NUJ Secretariat.
The women, speaking through their spokesperson, Mrs. Glory Efosa, said they have been receiving the sum of N17,820,as monthly salary for over six years and with the current economic reality occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy, they can no longer cope, therefore their wages should be increased.
The cleaners lamented that their services though vital, are not appreciated.
Mrs Glory Efosa stated their case thus:
“They pay us N18,000 but when they remove their tax, we will be left with N17,820. We have complained and written several letters calling for an increment.
“We started receiving this amount of money during the government of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole up till today. If we go for protest, the GM will say we don’t have an employment letter.
“They said Obaseki said he doesn’t know us as his workers but if they want to do anything in Benin City, they want to make the city beautiful, they will come to call us and we will go and make it clean.
“To cut the long story short, on Saturday after finishing our own task, they asked us to go to New Benin and clean it up and we went.
“Now, we are having a president who has removed fuel subsidy and things are now very expensive; that money cannot afford anything.
“What about somebody that has five children? How will he pay their school fees, pay house rents?How will he feed himself and his family?” Mrs Efosa asked.
According to them, efforts to meet with the Waste Management leadership to resolve the matter were rebuffed.
“The GM was present during the cleaning and when we wanted to bring the matter up we were asked to hold on and that was how we abandoned the matter”, she stated.
While commending the state governor for being the first person in the country to increase the state workers’ minimum wage to N40,000, the spokesperson of the group said the governor should also extend same benefit to them so that they can take care of their needs.
Addressing the protesters, state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Festus Alenkhe advised the street sweepers to have a roundtable discussion with the Waste Management Board and see how their salary can be reviewed.
When contacted, the general manager, Edo State Waste Management Board, Charles Imariagbe said their letter of complaint is with him and that plans are already in top gear to review their salary.
Imariagbe said the state government is concerned about the plight of the cleaners.