Unions reject sack of Lagos water corporation workers, call for probe of awarded contracts

The Amalgamated Unions of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) has rejected the sack of over 400 workers of Lagos State Water Corporation (LWC).

Benjamin Anthony, president of AUPCTRE, who addressed a virtual press conference on the development, on Monday, said workers should not be blamed for the current woes of the corporation.

The president of AUPCTRE addressed the press alongside representatives of the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) and the Joint Action Front (JAF).

BACKGROUND

In April, the Lagos government announced the disengagement of 391 LWC workers “as part of its ongoing restructuring efforts aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and meeting the evolving demands of the organisation”.

The state government said the corporation has been battling with “substantial financial and operational challenges, struggling to generate adequate revenue to meet its obligations”.

The government added that the “unreliable” water supply by the corporation has resulted in a “shrinking customer base and declining revenue”.

In December 2023, the state government sacked 450 casual workers of the corporation.

‘’THREE RETRENCHED WORKERS HAVE DIED’

The president of AUPCTRE said the sacked workers are currently in a “state of despair and suicidal”, noting that three of them have died.

He said the workers were sacked at a time when many Nigerians were finding it difficult to survive due to the economic situation.

“The current sack breached section 20 of the labour law which explicitly requires an employer to notify the trade union or workers’ representative of the reasons for and the extent of redundancy before terminating the employment of its staff on account of redundancy,” Anthony said.

“Friends, I want to inform you that in the last two weeks, three retrenched staff of the corporation have died.

“Three breadwinners, who have put in as much as 25-30 years of their life to make the corporation work.

“Many are now in a state of despair and suicidal. The multiplier effect of this disengagement at a time when Nigerians are finding it hard to survive extends beyond the affected workers and has the tendency of jeopardising the livelihoods of their dependents and exacerbating socio-economic inequalities.

“Those who were not affected by the sack are demotivated and fear for their job security.”

The AUPCTRE president said it is disturbing to see that the current LWC management is blaming the workers for the rot in the corporation.

He alleged that the funds released to successive managements of the corporation were not used for the purposes they were meant for.

“We are compelled therefore to respond to this sacrilegious blame game and insist that the responsibility for the rot in the LWC should be placed rightly where it belongs — successive corrupt management imposed on the LWC by the Lagos state government,” he said.

“The figures of funds released to the LWC that were not used for the purposes intended are mind-boggling. We are forced to ask ourselves, where do we even start from?

“In 2007, the Lagos state government voted N4 billion for the construction of Otta-Ikosi waterworks. To date, it is not working.

“The contract was not awarded to staff. So who are the contractors and why have they not been identified and sanctioned?

“In 2010, N3 billion was expended on the construction of an independent power plant (IPP), which also included an additional N180 million expended monthly on fueling the IPP.

“Can you imagine that? The facility only worked for three years. In 2018, about N897m was released by the Lagos state government for the rehabilitation of the Iju and Adiyan Waterworks.

“What is the status of the two projects? Failed. Who are the contractors and how were they selected? This had nothing to do with staff.

“Again, in 2018, the sum of N789 million was released by the Lagos state government for the rehabilitation of mini and micro waterworks across Lagos.

“Which contractors got the contracts and how were they selected? Why is there no water in the localities where the mini and micro waterworks are sited today? None of the projects are working. Does it have anything to do with staff? No.

“Where have staff been found wanting in all these fraudulent allocations listed above? Why must staff be the scapegoat for the monumental corruption perpetrated by successive managements of the LWC who are handpicked by the political leadership in the state?”

He asked the state government to reinstate the sacked workers and probe water contracts awarded since 2007.