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.
