The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos Waste Management Authority, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin, has said the welfare of street sweepers in the state is a priority.

Speaking during a recent interview on the TVC, Gbadegeshin addressed the recent controversy around the wages of the sweepers, which have been described as meagre and unable to cater for their needs amid the harsh economy.

Gbadegesin explained that workers are not only accorded welfare benefits that accrue to government staff besides regular minimum wage adjustments and access to health care, but they also benefit from empowerment schemes designed to enhance their incomes.

He said sweepers currently earn N40,000 for four hours of work daily, which, if scaled to full-time work, would exceed the national minimum wage at N70,000 per month.

If they were full-time staff, at that rate, they would be making N80,000 a month, which is N10,000 above the national minimum wage. So it’s untrue that the government doesn’t care about them,” Gbadegesin stated.

He further said, “The street-sweeping programme is a flagship initiative of LAWMA, and the government has consistently prioritised their welfare. We recently introduced health checkups, and upon discovering that some sweepers had vision problems, we arranged for free cataract surgeries.”

He explained that beyond wages, LAWMA was also implementing biometric registration for the sweepers through the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency to facilitate their access to health insurance and other social support programmes.


https://punchng.com/welfare-of-street-sweepers-govt-priority-lawma/