LASEMA ad hoc staff are reportedly experiencing untold hardship
having been owed their salaries since November 2018. To make matters
worse, they are reportedly lacking the basics needed to carry out their
jobs effectively.
LASEMA has a consulting firm called Avantgarde Management Services
(AMS) – the same agency that managed Vision Scape. AMS manages the
facilities and the staff who are not directly under the payroll of Lagos
State Civil Service. The staff managed by AMS include; the ad hoc staff
employed by LASEMA and the staff directly employed by AMS (some LASEMA
drivers and call centre agents).
These LASEMA /LRU operation staff who are on the payroll of AMS have
been owed salary for two months, a source close to the situation told
LIB. The staff were not paid their October salary until late December.
The salaries for November and December are still pending and staff are
finding it hard to meet their needs.
According to our source, due to the lack of remuneration, the ad hoc
staff, who make up almost half of the entire Operation staff of
LASEMA, do not even have money for transportation and sometimes they are
loaned money by the General Manager, LASEMA.
Our source said these staff are “undergoing untold hardships”,
especially as it’s a new year and the beginning of school. So many
cannot pay their children’s school fees and this is affecting their
morale. A lot of them have to borrow money to be able to come to work
and fulfil their responsibilities. Our source added that one of their
staff became mentally ill due to the pressure.
The source said:
Most of the Adhoc Staff have wives and children.
Do you know one of the Adhoc Staff even ran mad some weeks ago? But
really, who would not run mad when you can’t pay your children school
fees before exams last term and now this new term the kids are either at
home or the parent doesnt know how to pay both last terms fee and the
new term’s.Imagine going for emergency opertations where you would stay for
hours without food in your stomach. These guys have to borrow money from
family and friends for transportaion and feeding at work.
Asides not being paid, the staff are reportedly lacking the basics in
their bases; such as drinking water and soaps to wash their hands in
the toilets. The meal tickets they used to receive was also stopped last
year.
While responding to the scene of an emergency, LRU operation staff
witness incidents that leave them traumatized, yet there is no provision
for therapy or counselling for them.
To make matters worse, the General Manager has not addressed the issue with the affected staff, our source said.
As for the staff who are directly on the payroll of the Lagos State
Civil Service, some of them are paid N17,000 (excluding hazards
allowance) as salary for one whole month. This is not even up to the
minimum wage.
LIB reached out to LASEMA PRO, Mr Kehinde Adebayo, but he says he
cannot comment on the matter. He added that it is the acting GM Tiamiyu
Adeshina who comments on such issues but he is not around at the moment.