Female street cleaners in Calabar municipality and Calabar South LGA have protested their unpaid four-month salaries by the Cross River government.
The placard-carrying street sweepers stood at the entrance of the Governor’s Office Tuesday to remonstrate with the Cross River government.
‘Pay us our money’ and “We are tired of working without pay,’ read some of the placards.
The protest leader, Nkoyo Effiong, 60, lamented their frustration of working without pay for four months to journalists.
“We are here to let the governor know that we have not been paid for four months now,” stated Ms Effiong.
She revealed that in 2015, “they refused to pay us for six months, and now they want to go away with our four months’ salaries.”
According to her, the government pays some street cleaners N5,000 monthly, others N10,000.
“While those we call wreckers are paid N15,000 a month; we just want them to give us our money before they leave office,” Ms Effiong explained.
Another street cleaner, Emana Cobham, stressed the risk involved in cleaning streets, pointing out that cleaners are expected at their duty posts as early as 4:30 a.m.
“We have lost some sweepers to accidents,” stated Ms Cobham. “Some have been raped while others have been robbed of their valuables, including phones.”
Information commissioner Eric Anderson said the government was aware of the matter but added, “That is not my beat. You have to contact the commissioner for the environment.”
Commissioner for environment Nfon Bassey did not immediately replied to request for comments when contacted.
(NAN)
