Cleaner Lagos project threatened as 300 sweeper supervisors are sacked in dispute between government and private firm

LAGOS State's aggressive environmental campaign aimed at keeping the city clean faces an uncertain future after 300 street sweepers’ supervisors were reportedly sacked in what appears to be a mix-up between the government and the private company that hired them.

Environmental utility firm Visionscape Sanitation Solutions (VSS), said that the sacked supervisors were employed for the Lagos State government under the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI). However, 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 supervisors.

Mr Shabi said that the CLI contracted Standard Street Manpower (SSML) on the employment of street sweepers. According to him, Cleaner Lagos is a government initiative, not a contractor, while Visionscape is the contractor, hence, the government can decide it does not want Visionscape but Cleaner Lagos will remain.

“Maybe it is Visionscape that sacked them as Cleaner Lagos has not sacked anybody. 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 the environment.

“We don’t know any issue about the sack and I have been trying to get the information from Visionscape and they are directing me to their head office. The sacking 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," Mr Shabi added.

Motunrayo Elias, the head of corporate communications at VisionScape, said that the company was not the only contractor under the CLI. She added that when the structure for waste management was put in place, the government said it wanted street sweepers to clean the inner streets, among other arrangements.

According to Ms Elias, the structure for street sweepers’ supervisors was also put in place, which was the arrangement between CLI, VSS and SSML, which was the company managing the street sweepers. She 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 refuse.

Ms Elias added: “When we had a meeting, the issue was brought up and government asked how much was the salary, that was where the problem started. Government said it cannot afford the salary, which was between N80,000 to N120,000 but can only pay N25,000 per month.

“So the company paid the supervisors their disengagement bonuses, with Visionscape paying them two months’ salaries, while government was trying to decide. For fact, the supervisors were supposed to be transferred to the ministry of environment as it was a labour contract from the CLI."

She added that the structure that was put in place for waste management in the state injected income to the economy, as people were better off. 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 employment.