The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has expressed shock and disappointment over what it described as the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) management’s mischievous propaganda regarding the payment of entitlements to 391 workers recently served letters of disengagement by the corporation.
CAPPA’s criticism comes in response to a recent statement by the Managing Director of the LWC, Engr. Mukhtar Temitope Tijani, claiming that the corporation had, in a “remarkable display of empathy,” ensured that the illegally disengaged staff received their entitlements in accordance with public service rules.
According to the nonprofit organisation, the LWC’s attempt to whitewash its assault against helpless workers and still describe it as magnanimous is not only a ridiculous attempt to distort the truth but also a cruel mockery of the plight of affected workers, who have been callously deprived of their basic rights and livelihoods amid the current economic depression in the country.
CAPPA in statement signed by its Communications Officer, Robert Egbe said, “the Lagos Water Corporation’s decision to disengage 391 permanent staff on April 15, 2024, on the basis of redundancy, despite the state’s extensive water infrastructure projects and understaffed situation, not only violated due process but is also being actively challenged by the affected workers and members of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Lagos State Council; the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government-Owned Companies (SSASCGOC); and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE).
“Section 20 of the Nigerian Labour Act 2004 clearly outlines the process for handling redundancy. It mandates an employer to inform the trade union or workers’ representative concerned of the reasons for and the extent of the anticipated redundancy, including adhering to the principle of “last in, first out.”
“Likewise, Section 7.23 of the Lagos State Water Corporation (condition of service) Rules 2011 clearly states that “all staff who disengage prematurely from service due to management decision shall be entitled to three (3) weeks of their terminal total emolument for each year of service as redundancy benefit”.
CAPPA said The LWC blatantly disregarded these legal provisions, leaving affected workers and their unions with no choice but to resist its illegal actions and shameful undermining of national laws.
“While the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) may claim to have disbursed a five-month redundancy payment to unjustly dismissed workers, we assert that this was merely a performative action mischievously approved on the eve of workers’ decision to embark on a protest on May 8.
“Despite this effort to undermine workers’ unity, the protest embarked on by the unions, alongside civil society groups, including CAPPA, held regardless, terminating with the submission of a petition to the Lagos State House of Assembly challenging the illegality of the mass sack.
“It is important to state here that pleas by the leadership of the affected unions to the Lagos State Government to halt the illegal disengagement and reinstate all affected workers have fallen on deaf ears, with the government and LWC management insisting on their unfair treatment of workers, many of whom have dedicated 20 – 25 years of selfless service to the corporation.
The group reinstated it’s commitment and solidarity with all affected unions and workers, three of whom have tragically lost their lives as a direct result of this injustice.
The group said it “reject attempts to shift the blame on workers by labelling them redundant where the corporation and state government have, instead of allowing workers to perform their jobs, historically outsourced water contracts to corrupt private entities that ended up mismanaging substantial state funds meant for infrastructure development”.
The group thereafter urged the affected workers, their unions, and members of the public to stand firm in asserting their rights to be treated with basic decency and resist the schemes of those attempting to commodify access to public water in Lagos State.