The General Manager of Gombe State Environmental Protection Management Agency (GOSEPA) Muhammad Kumo says the appointment of the cleaners would not be tampered with.
Kumo was reacting in a news briefing following the protest of women and youths estimated in hundreds.
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 overwhelming contract sum, while the two other companies have been mandated to pay workers N15,000 under reduced contract sum.
He said, “When this government came on board it met the contract at 900,000 per kilometers that means 110 million naira to cover 129 kilometers that 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 the governor describes the workers as family members, noting that he doesn’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 a Hajara urged the governor not to displace them, adding that the economic situation of the country is 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 aside the change of their company, that 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.
Meanwhile, the State Government through Commissioner for Information Julius Ishaya, has said no one would be sack, stating that the contractual agreement of their previous employers INEX was expensive.
Ishaya said, In the early hours of today (Thursday) being the 7th of April 2022, a protest was staged by supposedly aggrieved workers of INEX cleaners in front of the main entrance of the Government House.
“It is believed that the protest followed the expiration of contract between the Gombe State Government and the INEX cleaners after the present administration in the State graciously extended the contract agreement by 9 months.
“It is however important to State that INEX cleaners is private environmental service provider engaged by the State Government for clearing and evacuation of waste within the State capital.”
Ishaya stated that the two new companies were under obligation to absorb the workers, noting that the latest arrangement was in the interest of the state.
“However in compliance with the public procurement law of Gombe State, the Job for the evacuation of waste in the State capital was advertised to the public for bidding. The outcome of the bidding process eventually showed that INEX cleaners bidded a much higher contract sum than than the company the State Government has so far contracted.
“In sealing the contract with the new environmental company, the Gombe State Government gave a condition that all workers with INEX cleaners should be retained with a much higher pay.
“The Gombe State Government strongly believed that the decision to engage the services of a new environmental company was done in the best interest of the State and its people particularly the workers,” Ishaya added.
While calling on the workers to be law abiding, Ishaya warned the supervisors whom he said were the architects of the demonstration, adding that government would not tolerate their actions which is capable of causing anarchy.
The Commissioner explained, “Government has it on a good account that some supervisors with INEX cleaners are bent on causing confusion and mischief in the process.
“To this end, the Government wishes to use this medium to warn trouble makers particularly the supervisors to stay clear from act that will bring about the breakdown of law and order as the long arm of the law will catch up with anyone who in the habit of doing so.”
