Street sweepers in Ekiti protest poor remuneration, demand minimum wage

Street sweepers  in Ekiti have appealed to  Gov. Kayode Fayemi to come to their rescue by paying a living wage to them.

They  said that the N5, 000 salary currently being  paid to each of them is not enough to take care of them monthly .

Reports said that on Tuesday that the street sweepers who are  on the   government payroll  staged a protest against the  poor monthly  remuneration being offered them.

Reports said that the protesters  displayed placards with inscriptions such as:  ‘Stop Paying Lip Service to Our Plights.

‘N30,000 is the acceptable Minimum Wage By Law’, ‘Governor  Kayode Fayemi, Please Come to our Rescue.

‘N5,000 is not acceptable Again’, ‘Our Wage Can’t Take Us Home, We Want Living Wage’, among others.

Mrs Titilayo Faweya, the leader of the group, said that they had to embark  on the protest to demand for what is right and just for  their members.

Faweya said that their action was as a result of  the delay in  the fulfillment  of the promise made by  the governor during his  re-election campaign  in 2018.

She said that  the immediate past government slashed their salaries but Fayemi promised   that he would increase their monthly take home  if elected into office .

” We are not happy. ,We are not being  treated well. We are not fighting Gov.  Kayode  Fayemi  or disgracing his government, but we are compelled  to act this way because  we do not want  to die  in silence.

“We are collecting the sum of N5,000 monthly. A  measure ‘kongo’ of  cassava flakes ‘garri’  is  selling for N700 and that of rice  is N1,000. How can many of us cope with these terrible situations?

“Many of us are widows.  In fact, we are really suffering. They promised that things will change, but we are not seeing the signal.

“All we are getting are promises upon promises. It is time for us to get what is commensurate to our efforts in terms of payment,” she said.

Mrs Nike Alatise, another member of the group,  said that  they started the street-sweeping job in 2003 with N2,500 monthly salary before it was increased to N5,000.

“Many of us have spent close to 20 years on this job. When Gov. Fayemi was campaigning, he promised that he would look into our welfare.

“ Some of us are widows.  Some  are living in rented apartments so how do we survive with this paltry amount?

“Our job is tedious and things are difficult for us; to survive is not easy . What we want is N30,000 monthly  that is in tandem with the N30,000 minimum wage already signed into law in Ekiti”, she said.

The Commissioner for Environment, Mrs Iyabo Fakunle-Okiemen , said  that she had taken note of all the   demands of the protesting workers and would present them to  Gov. Fayemi.

“I have met with them,  addressed  them and got all their demands, so that I can take them to Gov. Fayemi for necessary action”, she  said