Inside LAGBUS' slave camp

EMEKA IBEMERE

When the Lagos State government launched her new transportation system, LAGBUS, to tally with the world’s transport standard in her effort to turn the Nigerian former capital into a mega-city, residents joyfully welcomed the innovation.

In their views, the project would create employment opportunities, reduce the carnage hitherto caused by molue and Danfo drivers on Lagos roads, bring sanity into the system and create revenues for the state.

But five years after, staff of LAGBUS are singing doleful and disenchanting songs. How? They claimed that the real essence of setting up LAGBUS was for massive exploitation of workers and corrupt enrichment of a few at the expense of the public, particularly the teeming unemployed youths in the state.

Daily Newswatch investigation showed that LAGBUS workers have dropped from 350 to about 150 due to systematic sack and poor working conditions. Consequently, there are currently about 550 contract/casual workers in its employ. About five contract companies, all connected to some top officers of the Lagos State government, are in charge of LAGBUS.

Staff, who were sacked last year, disclosed that these contract companies are TK, Bucad, XL, NURTW and Driving Solution.

Our source claimed that LAGBUS management pays the contractors N41, 000 as salary for every worker employed for LAGBUS, but a worker’s take-home pay is about N32, 000 monthly; thus, the contractors make at least N9, 000 on every worker employed.

Daily Newswatch gathered that sometime last year when workers agitated for salary increase, the managing director of LAGBUS, Mr. Tunde Disu, said that he could not grant any salary increment because the former managing director, Mr. Rotimi Onyekan, who doubled then as the Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, left N2.28 billion liability.

In a press release, a non-governmental organization, Campaign for Democracy and Workers’ Right Group, said, “This tells how much tax payers’ monies have gone down the drains. LAGBUS management and the Lagos State management prefer the contract system because it offers an opportunity to make cheap profits, since workers are casuals.”

Sacked workers, who spoke with our correspondent, alleged that the contract staff are denied the right to join any union to defend their collective interest.

It was gathered that Driving Solution, one of the contractors, employed 228 workers on behalf of LAGBUS and makes about N1.4 million monthly; whereas, its workers are denied better wage and good working condition.

 According to our source, “Staff are denied the right to belong to a union of their choice, as these workers are denied severance benefits. They are also denied the right to go on leave.”

Our source further revealed that the regularized drivers earn N35, 000 while the contract staff, most of whom are bus assistants, earn N18, 000.

Checks also showed that sweeping and cleaning jobs are outsourced to private contractors who are equally close to the management and Lagos State government.

Cleaners who were sweeping the bus garages earned a meagre N10, 000 per month, while those who were washing the buses were paid about N12, 000 as at a year ago This, it was learnt, was a paltry sum compared to the contractors’ gains.

Further investigation revealed that the contractors washing buses are OILIB SIBOG, DAGO, GABAK VENTURES and CLEANIX. All the contractors are allegedly close to top management of the organization.

According to the Campaign for Democracy and Workers’ Right Group, one of the biggest exploitations going on at LAGBUS is the current supply of diesel by Oando. It is the sole supplier of diesel to all LAGBUS buses in Lagos State.

The group also revealed that for every litre Oando supplied as at a year ago, it charged LAGBUS additional N30, when a litre was sold for N140. In other words, LAGBUS was paying N170, despite supplying thousands of litres on a daily basis.

Still talking about what it described as “the slavery policies in LAGBUS”, the group also decried the N18, 000 monthly salary paid to contract drivers, while workers are to get 4% target commission as additional earnings.

It was learnt that this policy was aimed at reducing workers’ salaries since most workers would not be able to make up to the amounts earned before.

However, this policy, indeed, makes the drivers prone to accident as it puts them under pressure to drive at top speed in order to meet the expected target, thereby endangering the lives of passengers and other road users.

Most of the buses are crying for replacement and are now glorified molues, which have been discarded on Lagos roads.

Several attempts by the workers, who have been fighting back against these anti-labour policies, are not making any headway.

In 2008, the regularized workers of LAGBUS fought to get a union, but after several letters and meetings, the management grudgingly accepted for them to have a union. However, the union is not functional due to the managements’ high-handedness.

To frustrate the union, the management with the backing of Lagos State government allegedly unleashed attacks on workers who dared to challenge it.

In April, 2009, workers embarked on a strike to demand the reduction of work- hours and better working conditions. “In August 2009, some of our leading activists like Jeffery, Marvellous, Taiwo and Olarewanju were sacked, arrested and detained. They were allegedly charged to court on trumped-up charges for spear-heading a strike to agitate better working conditions,” the group stated.

Our source claimed that this struggle forced the management to reduce the working hours from 80 hours a week to 60 hours.

As if that wasn’t enough, the strike of February, 2011 and further pressure from the union forced the management to now reduce the working hours to 40 hours per week instead of 60 hours.

Several attempts by Mr. Adelakun, the current Lagos NLC chairman to bring both groups to a consensus has failed to yield any result. But workers, who spoke to our source at Oshodi terminal, said the state branch of NLC had never supported their course or condemned the victimization by the management. 

In December, 2010, two key workers, Solomon Odijie and Adebayo Samuel, were sacked by Driving Solution for joining the union and emerging as key elected officials in a democratic election supervised by AUPCTRE.

Daily Newswatch gathered that Samuel Olowokere, the branch union Secretary, was pitilessly sacked in January, 2013 for upholding the position of the union that rejected the end-of-the-year party package where the workers were giving meagre eight cups of rice per worker.

“The management was apparently desperate to have the rice shared so as to cover up corrupt deeds. Olowokere is one of the most active unionists who have spear-headed the resistance against management’s anti-labour policies. Hence, management and the state government are desperate in getting rid of Olowokere”, Chinedu Bosah, Publicity Secretary of Campaign for Democracy and Workers’ Right stated.

“All these struggles have been waged by the branch Union and workers without any support from the state and national leadership of Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE). In fact, the union leadership collaborated with the management to victimize all the workers' activists listed above, except Olowokere. The union leadership is presently frustrating the re-instatement struggle of Olowokere,” he said.

It was learnt that the union leadership of LAGBUS wrote an ultimatum letter to the management of LAGBUS which elapsed on February 6, 2013, asking it to re-instate the sacked workers. But management has not taken any concrete step towards it.

“Rather than mobilization of workers for a day of action, the union leadership claimed they wanted to discuss with the Commissioner of Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, a delay tactic meant to stall the struggle,” he stated.

The CDWR also condemned the wave of victimization and called for immediate and unconditional re-instatement of all sacked staff of LAGBUS.

 The statement further stressed that “We call on workers' activists and the ranks and file to consolidate on the mobilization of workers for a day of action. They should also put more pressure on the union leadership to take concrete action that will force the management to re-instate Olowokere without loss of pay.

He added that“The scheme was set up by the Lagos State government with the investment of public funds, landed properties etc., in an arrangement that profits a few privileged individuals at the expense of the workers and public expense.

“The Private Public Partnership is now a model through which government commits public resources for the profit drive of their private collaborators”.

For keen watchers of LAGBUS, it is glaring that the transportation scheme is fast collapsing, despite huge resources committed to it.

It will be recalled that LAGBUS scheme is managed by a registered private company known as LAGBUS Asset Management Ltd., whose Board of Directors are in the Lagos State government and connected to the government.

Mr. Disu Holloway, the Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism & Inter-governmental Relations, is a board member of LAGBUS Asset Management Ltd.

With the way the buses are breaking down on a daily basis, it seems the scheme is at the verge of collapse. No maintenance and there is no hope that more funds will be invested into it.

“Though the board members and other key beneficiaries are likely to be fleecing the scheme through profit- sharing and other means, the scheme is no longer profitable,” Bosah stated in a press release.

The Managing Director of LAGBUS, Mr. Tunde Disu, on a radio programme in 2012, claimed that the buses being managed by the company were 803, whereas the total number of buses on the roads on a daily basis is about 190.  But only 300 buses were operating two years ago.

Daily Newswatch investigation showed that there had been a huge reduction in the number of buses still operating on the roads due to mismanagement.

This is so because most of the buses have broken down and abandoned at different depots due to expensive and unsustainable contract maintenance policy.

Further investigation also indicated that most of the buses are less than three years old, but they have been allowed to rot away. About 600 buses are deteriorating and wasting at the LAGBUS garage.. To keep the scheme going and not to make the collapsing state of LAGBUS obvious, LAGBUS management and the Lagos State government have initiated a policy that brings in private bus companies under LAGBUS known as franchise. Some of these bus companies are Adonis, Nationwide, Eko megacity, ABC transport and others. 

 Attempts to reach Tunde Disu for comment were not successful as his phone was not available.