Lagos street sweepers groan under poor pay

on September 28, 2013   /   in Just Human 8:34 am   /   Comments

By EBUN SESSOU

Fifty-eight-year-old Afusat, a widow is one of the street sweepers in Lagos State. Afusat was a petty trader who was struggling to make ends meet with her five children. Her youngest child is in JSS 2. Fifteen years ago after she lost her husband, she has been facing numerous challenges raising her children. Afusat told Saturday Vanguard that she was using the profit realised from her petty business to train her  children.

Today, Afusat has secured a job as one of the street sweepers in Lagos metropolis. She is combining both the gains she realises from her petty trading and her salary to nurture her children. But, there seems to be no difference as the salary she earns as street sweeper is next to nothing.

Although, she was grateful to have gotten this job, she seems not to be satisfied as the challenges involved is more than the stipends she earns as salary.  When she started the job, she was optimistic that it would meet her demands. But, right now, she is  completely confused.  Her words: “When my friend introduced me to it, she told me that, as a street sweeper, I will be able to feed my family and cater for my needs, that, I could attend to some pressing needs without necessarily going into debt but the story is different now”, she added.

She further said that, the only satisfaction she derives from the job is the opportunity it affords her to do other jobs. “The job is based on shift. We resume at  7am  and close at 1pm while others resume at 1pm and close at 6pm everyday. The job is comfortable and our salaries come regularly. Some of us are traders, businessmen and women as well as students”, she disclosed.

Iyabo, a-200 level student in one of the tertiary institutions who sweeps around Ebute Metta area of   Lagos also told Saturday Vanguard that  she got involved in the job due to her financial constraints. “Since I started this job, I have been able to attend to some pressing needs but not all my needs. I am still struggling to pay my school fees”, she groaned.

She implored the state government to intervene and look into the possibility of increasing the salary in order to help improve their standard of living. “Our salary is N12,000 only but I know that it can be improved upon”, she noted.

On safety, she disclosed that, sweepers are trained from time to time on how to prevent accident. “We know that there are lots of danger on the job and that is why we are trained on safety precautions.  We are also constantly enlightened on safety precautions, including how they should never work on the road with their backs to oncoming vehicles.

“Government also provides some safety kits, including nose covers, gloves, reflective jacket which prevent us from contracting health problems. Most commercial drivers are reckless such that they do not respect the job we do. There are cases where sweepers had been killed in Lagos”, she lamented.

An aged man (name withheld) who works on a road within Isolo area told Saturday Vanguard that when he started in 2009, he was paid N8,500 per month, and only recently it was  increased to N10,000.

Another man in Ejigbo area had been on his beat and the same route for three years. He earns N12,000 as well. Others who spoke around Lagos Island said there is need for an insurance policy covering sweepers.

“Up till now, sweepers are yet to be covered with insurance policy against accidents.

“This issue of insurance has dragged on for too long and we implore the governor to assist in resolving any impediment to the insurance policy.

“Street sweepers’ medical issues should be taken seriously because we know that this has not been heeded by healthcare centres.” One common word to them was that government should improve their welfare package. The man in Isolo for instance, complained that his salary is not enough to meet his demands. He also lamented that he had not been allowed to go on leave in three years, while the one in Ejigbo calls on government to extend to sweepers seasonal gifts as accorded to other civil servants especially during festive periods.

Speaking on the issue, a motorist Hakeem made a case for these sweepers.“The fact remains that it is very difficult to pull aside the efforts of the an average Lagos street sweeper in the megacity dream by the present administration as most of them defy the danger involve in the job but work to keep Lagos clean.

“They work so hard, often in difficult and high risk areas. The question is, do they earn  ‘a fair wage’ commensurate to the risk they take?Even the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola appreciates their contribution to the interpretation of his dream for the state and calls them “critical champions of change.”

However, Saturday Vanguard gathered that the scheme was introduced by the former governor of the state, Bola Ahmed Tinubu; but it has been reinvigorated and expanded under the current administration.

Those who work under the Private Service Providers are paid by the state government through the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), the sum of N10,000 naira while those who were employed directly under LAWMA get N12,000 naira.

As of the middle of 2012, a total of 120 private companies had been engaged as service providers, which in turn collectively employed about 12,500 sweepers.

Cursed killers: Slain newly wed’s family decrees death for killers at burial

Uncontrollable tears, anguish and curses characterised the burial, yesterday, of the remains of the late Ugochukwu Chukwudi Ozuah, the groom who shot dead in Lagos five days after his wedding, in his country home, Mgbakwu, in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State.

Thirty-six-year-old Ozuah was said to have been shot dead by policemen when he went to see his friend off at the Anthony Village area of Lagos. During his burial yesterday, the wailing got to the peak when the brown casket bearing his remains was opened for the lying-in-state ceremony at the family house, as men, women and youths refused to be consoled. In the casket, Ugochukwu was dressed in his wedding suit.  The wailing relatives of the deceased had freely cursed those who killed Ugochukwu.

The anger and pains of the young man’s death was so much that even the pastors who normally pray for forgiveness and repentance joined in the pray that the killers should meet their doom. Ugochukwu’s pretty widow of five days marriage, Joan and his mother, Deaconess Chinwe Ozuah, were actually in another world as they could not comprehend what befell them. They stood behind the casket looking absent-mindedly at the lifeless body.  While the widow, Joan, muttered words amid rushing tears, Ugochukwu’s mother raised her voice saying:

“Ugochukwu, is it you? Where have you been? You left me, why didn’t you wait for me to go first? Your blood will hunt your killers all the days of their lives. Amen.”  Before the casket bearing his remains was lowered to the grave at about 11.33am, Rev. Kevin Ohamara of the Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Awka had, in his sermon at the funeral service held in the compound by the church, urged the family and all those his death affected to be consoled.  Taking his text from Ecclesiastics 7:1-2, the pastor said that though the pains of the family and all were that Ugochukwu was lost at his prime, the consolation should be that he has gone to stay with his maker.

He further said: “Whoever has a hand in the death of Ugochukwu will also go; the only difference is that he has gone ahead of him. Death is an appointment which every human being must keep and Ugo has kept his. God will bring judgment upon those that killed him.”  He, therefore, urged the living to prepare their ways so that when death comes knocking, they would not be caught unawares.  Speaking to Saturday Sun, Eldest sister of the slain Ugochukwu, Mrs. Nkay Nnonyelu, described the death as shattering.

She said the family was waiting for the report of the committee set up by the Inspector General of Police to investigate the incident, adding that the family wants justice in the matter.  The Anambra State Police Commissioner was represented at the burial by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Umunze, Mr. Kingston Irozuru, who led about 30 policemen to ensure that the burial was peaceful.

Also speaking, a community leader from Mgbakwu, Chief Edwin Oraka, said that the entire community has been in deep mourning over the killing of their son and urged government to ensue that the culprits were brought to book.

PUNCH

Student sells virginity for $780,000 , what would this be called?

A Brazilian student has sold her virginity in an online auction for US$780,000 as part of a documentary organised by an Australian filmmaker, although a man who did the same only fetched US$3,000.

Catarina Migliorini, 20, was the subject of 15 bids, with a Japanese man named only as Natsu winning on Wednesday night, according to the website of the film “Virgins Wanted”.

He beat out competition from 14 other men, mostly from Brazil but also from India, Australia and the United States.

A male whose virginity was also auctioned, 21-year-old Sydney student Alex Stepanov, fetched US$3,000, paid by a Brazilian woman.

Australian media said Migliorini would be “delivered” to her buyer on board a plane to Australia and that she would be interviewed before and after losing her virginity at a secret location.

Filmmaker Jason Sisely, who began his project in 2009 and caused outrage when he put posters up in Sydney and Melbourne saying “Virgins Wanted”, said Migliorini was ecstatic and had not expected as much such interest.

“The auction closed last night and Catarina is extremely excited. She was speaking to her family in Brazil online and they were extremely happy for her,” he told Australian online news site Ninemsn.

“But I guess they didn’t expect her to do something like this.”

He said the act would be consummated, but not filmed, in the next few weeks.

“We will fly over the winner to Australia and obviously, for the sake of the film and privacy, we can’t disclose where and when the act will take place,” he said. “I have to leave some details for the documentary.”

On a “Virgins Wanted” trailer on YouTube, Migliorini said: “I haven’t found the right person to do it with, I’ve been too busy with other stuff.”

She added: “It’s more sane than doing it drunk at a party with a stranger.”

According to Britain’s Daily Mail, Migliorini’s decision to sell her virginity to the highest bidder has sparked outrage across the globe, with some claiming she was little more than a prostitute.

But she defended the move.

“I saw this as a business. I have the opportunity to travel, to be part of a movie and get a bonus with it,” she was quoted by the Mail as saying.

“If you only do it once in your life then you are not a prostitute, just like if you take one amazing photograph it does not automatically make you a photographer.”

She will reportedly use part of the cash to build homes for poverty-stricken families.

Sisely told Ninemsn that under the terms of the auction a condom was compulsory and Natsu must be tested beforehand for any sexually transmitted diseases.

“I’m looking forward to my audience’s response to the film,” he said.

Man ‘Walks’ On Water With Bare Foot (PHOTOS)

He may be a relatively unknown illusionist, but you could hardly describe Dynamo as being wet behind the earAnd the magician, whose real name is Steve Frayne, certainly proved this was the case as he ‘walked’ across the River Thames.

The nifty footwork was a suitably jaw-dropping publicity stunt for his new TV series.

The Bradford-born illusionist, 28, made it half way across the stretch of the river in front of the Houses of Parliament in London before he was picked up by what appeared to be a River Police boat.

Biblical epic: Magician Dynamo poses while standing in the middle of the River Thames where he performed an illusion in which he appeared to walk on water

But Mail Online understands that this was one more thing that was not as it seemed – and the boat crew all part of the act.

Stunned onlookers watched from Westminster Bridge as the magician recorded the stunt for his new TV show Dynamo: Magician Impossible.

A spokesman insisted the photographs were not faked.

Frayne has so far built his name on the celebrity circuit, astounding a host of famous names with his tricks.

Among those who will testify to his skills are the likes of Jay-Z, Coldplay, Will Smith, Busta Rhymes and Paris Hilton.

His previous tricks have included making Little Britain star Matt Lucas levitate before a live audience at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, and turning signed lottery tickets into cash in front of Robbie Williams and Davina McCall as part of BBC’s Sport Relief live programme, as you can see on the video below.

Various celebrities have taken part in his new series including heavyweight boxing champion David Haye, Manchester rocker Ian Brown and pop star Natalie Imbruglia.

In episode one, he performs his trademark levitation trick and physically moves a girl’s tan line on the glamorous Miami Beach.

The magician’s spectacular tricks in the coming series include him transporting a mobile phone into a glass beer bottle, turning snow into diamonds in the Austrian mountains and bringing a flutter of butterflies to life in Hollywood’s famous Chateau Marmont.

Frayne’s current roster of A-list celebrity admirers is a long way from his upbringing on the deprived Delph Hill Estate in Bradford, where he learned magic from his grandfather. That background provided the title for a Channel 4 programme entitled ‘Dynamo’s Estate Of Mind’.

Today he combines elements of dance and hip hop culture into his magic routines and his skills have seen him invited to appear on TV shows such as Snoop Dogg’s Fatherhood.

He has so far released two Dvds; Underground Magic and Concrete Playground.

Download the video to see Dynamo in action on Sport Relief…