The plight of street sweepers in Lagos State, also known as Highway Managers or by some other appellations, deserves urgent attention by the state government. This category of workers performs a very crucial function of keeping the roads clean and passable. And they do that often at great risk to their health and personal safety, given the highly unhygienic environment in which they work, and the often reckless driving habits of many motorists. Street sweepers are directly in the crossfire of the danger so presented. For that, they deserve more than the casual treatment they are currently accorded, not minding that their labour is classified under the “cheap” category.
It is reported that street sweepers in Lagos State do not earn the minimum wage of N70,000. They are paid a miserly N40,000 or N30,000, from which they procure tools for their tasks. It is unfair in today’s tough economy and excruciating living costs to subject workers to such low wages, irrespective of the nature of their engagement. It is more so for high-risk jobs such as road sweeping. The authorities in Lagos and wherever workers are still underpaid should abolish such inhumane working conditions.
In reported encounters with street sweepers, they lamented that despite unconfirmed reports that their salaries had been increased to N85,000 since October 2024, some of them receive as low as N30,000 monthly, without allowances and working tools. To compound their woes, the salaries are delayed, sometimes paid in the middle of a subsequent month.
In the new minimum wage signed into law in July 2024, all workers are required to benefit from the increase. The claim by Lagos State that the sweepers were engaged through private arrangement under “structured contracts” by private companies who are responsible for paying them a slave wage is not acceptable and should not be regarded as a final answer to the plight of the sweepers. The new minimum wage does not discriminate among workers. It is poor logic to argue that Lagos street sweepers are not employees of the Lagos Waste Management Agency (LAWMA), and therefore not direct staff of the state government, to entitle them to minimum wage. The sweepers are the direct face of the government in respect of cleaning and sanitising the roads. If anything, the Lagos State Government should be at the forefront of ensuring their welfare, including payment to them of the national minimum wage. Every worker in Lagos cannot be a staff member of the State Government, and that should not deprive them of the minimum wage in their respective workplaces.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) recommends that the minimum wage should cover all workers. In its Minimum Wage Policy Guide, the organisation states that temporary workers should receive equal treatment as permanent workers in similar positions, including fair remuneration, working hours and benefits. Temporary workers deserve clear, understandable and enforceable employment contracts outlining the terms of their engagement, including job responsibilities, duration and expectations. Employers are to ensure that temporary workers enjoy protection systems, such as insurance or bond arrangements, to safeguard their rights and interests. They are entitled to a safe working environment as well.
Therefore, the excuse by Lagos State that street sweepers work four hours daily does not justify their low wages. The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Lagos chapter, has said it considers street sweepers as full-time workers, and that it has transmitted the same to the government in a letter jointly written with the Trade Union Congress (TUC). The NLC said the private contractual arrangement that deprives road sweepers of minimum wage is unknown to the law, especially for sweepers who arrive as early as 6 a.m. and by 12 noon their task for the day is complete. This set of workers is prone to attacks and road accidents, and there are many known fatalities.
In Nigeria, workers are not paid hourly. Perhaps, when that time comes, both Labour and the government will work out the terms. For now, it is a crime for eligible employers not to pay the minimum wage. During the making of the new minimum wage law, Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the law applies to all. Hear him: “It is not a maximum wage. It applies to all and sundry, including domestic and casual workers.”
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Kachollom Daju, added her voice when she said it had become a crime for any employer to pay less than N70,000, whether in the public or private sector. She said: “The private employment agencies should make it compulsory in any contract they take from their principal that their workers should not earn less than the minimum wage. The least paid worker in Nigeria should earn N70,000, which should be after all deductions. The minimum wage is law, and you can be jailed if you fail to implement it.”
The Lagos State government, LAWMA and their contractors should revisit and update the arrangement they had in place for remunerating street sweepers, before the new minimum wage became law. In fact, the sweepers deserve adequate and commensurate wages, certainly more than they are presently given. And this should be without recourse to the minimum wage law, which has only strengthened their entitlement to a much better deal.
We do hope that someone is not undercutting the street sweepers in breach of the law. It may be true, as is being widely peddled, that contractual obligations have been struck, whereby political party patrons and supporters of government are compensated with contracts for one reason or the other. Even so, politics should not be played to the detriment of street sweepers.
Politicians and their cohorts are not above the law, and if they get involved in an employment matter, they should respect the law governing their involvement. Let contractors negotiate well to include the new minimum wage for their workers. Any establishment that hires not less than 25 workers is required by law to pay the minimum wage. It is not a gift. It is the law.
For emphasis’s sake, the minimum wage law does not preclude employers from paying more than N70,000 per month to their employees where such payment is justified. The amount stipulated is the minimum payable. Street sweepers deserve no less than the minimum wage.
