Following a news briefing on the protest of women and youths, estimated in hundreds, the Gombe state government has denied the sack of over 2,000 cleaners.
The General Manager of Gombe State Environmental Protection Management Agency, Muhammad Kumo, has said that the appointment of the cleaners would not be tampered with.
According to him, no fewer than 2,000 cleaners under INEX, a private cleaning firm, would be absorbed into a new arrangement implemented by two other private establishments said to have won the contract due to lower cost and increased payment to workers.
Kumo revealed that INEX paid workers about N12,000, after an overwhelming contract sum, while the two other companies have been mandated to pay workers N15,000 under a reduced contract sum.
He said, “When this government came on board it met the contract at 900,000 per kilometer, that means 110 million naira to cover 129 kilometers was what the previous government was paying. Governor Muhammadu Yahaya, for the whole of the two years in office, continued paying it.
“We went to investigate to know how much the owner of INEX cleaners paid them. We found out that they paid them N12,000 and he engages 10 people in a kilometer. We followed due process when the governor asked us to advertise. We went about looking for the highest amount paid for cleaning 1km of road, and we realised that N465,000 was the highest.”
While displaying the reflective jackets of the workers, Kumo said that the governor described the workers as family members, noting that he didn’t want family ties broken.
“The executive governor is saying that they must all be retained and we must retain them. We are going to retain 1,000 of them in this office, one of the cleaning companies will retain 872, and the other company cosmopolitan will retain 520, making over 2,000, nobody should be disengaged. I have their list when the vendors forward their names I will cross-check,” Kumo said.
Earlier, a protester who identified herself as a Hajara urged the governor not to displace them, adding that the economic situation of the country was overwhelming.
Hajara said, “We had an agreement at Pantami stadium only to get to work and realised that we have been displaced by new people, that is why we are protesting. I pray the government will reabsorb us.”
Also Speaking, Danjuma Bulus said that aside from the change of their company, they were been owed about three months of salaries.
He called on the governor to intervene while stressing the financial burdens they were involved in owing to their possible displacement.
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