Street Sweepers In Enugu Protest Non-Payment Of Allowances
More than 3, 000 street sweepers under the Enugu State Ministry of Environment Tuesday staged a save-our-soul protest across the Enugu metropolis over non-payment of their seven-month salaries as well as non-increment of their current salaries of about N7, 900 only.
The protesters claimed they resorted to the outcry following the nonchalant disposition of the authorities concerned. They said they had meetings with the state’s environment commissioner over their plight, but nothing positive was forthcoming.
Another one said, “The government of Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is sensitive to the masses, but I don’t know why our matter is different. We wake up to keep the state clean but nobody cares for us. We take risks on roads and face health hazards, but the outcome is this unfortunate treatment.”
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The managing director of Enugu State Waste Management Authority, Mrs Amaka Anajemba, said the concerned authorities would look into the matter, but claimed that her agency had paid the sweepers in the past four months when they were transferred to it.
The state’s environment commissioner, Amb Fidel Ayogu, alleged that the debt was inherited and advised the protesters to follow the due process.
The protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as ‘work like elephant and eat like an ant’; ‘every year, Obi is a boy’, and ‘we have served for ten years without salary increment’.
