By Exclusive! How cartel is frustrating new LAWMA MD for daring to stop fraudulent largesse
A recent drama has[tps_header][/tps_header][tps_header][/tps_header] ensued in the Lagos Waste Management Authority following a video which went viral purportedly indicting the management of the organisation. The video which immediately elicited reactions on social media and posted by a supposedly aggrieved supervisor and asthmatic patient, Olamide Sulaimon, working for Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), had the public call out LAWMA for not paying the sweepers’ salary as at when due.
In a swift response, the management of LAWMA released a statement explaining it has paid for the month of April and has commenced efforts to pay for May then ensure the paying continues unhindered in subsequent months.
Amidst these developments, BlackBox Nigeria has discovered that the video and the subsequent arranged protests of sweepers is a ploy to discredit the acting Managing Director, Ibrahim Odumbomi who resumed office less than a month ago.
BlackBox Nigeria was geaared to dig into the true situation of things following revelations that the man being alleged of owning three months salary according to Sulaimon’s video has spent barely three weeks in office.
The new head of the waste management agency, Odumbomi, resumed in acting capacity on May 18, 2020, following the suspension of the former MD, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin, over performance. According to inside sources from the Governor’s office, Odumbomi is on a three months probation, to ascertain his capability to address waste collection and management challenges in the state.
The suspended former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Gbadegesin assumed office on Thursday, August 8, 2019 and was there till early May 2020. Even though governance is a continuum, the acting MD could not have been the one owing three months as claimed by Sulaimon except there is more to it that meets the eye.
A source close to the new helmsman in LAWMA, said his trouble started when he initiated moves to review some of the actions of his predecessor that have reduced the revenue of the waste management body, chief of which was to address the issue of contractors operating with ghost sweepers.
It was said that during the time of Gbadegbeshin, political patronage of signing up new contractors without considering the ability of LAWMA to foot the bill was at the peak. Fingered as one of those who enjoyed the patronage was an All Progressives Congress Woman Leader, identified as Mrs Olawunmi Williams a.k.a Iron Lady.
Mrs Williams is said to be having the largest contingent of Street Sweepers manning about 66 routes, but many of those she keeps on the payroll to collect money from LAWMA are alleged to be ghost workers. It was further revealed that the man behind the protest video, Sulaimon Olamide also works directly with the Iron Lady. About 600 operators are currently accredited by LAWMA and they, in turn, employ more than 16,000 sweepers and hundreds of supervisors.
There are insinuations that the orchestrated campaign to tarnish the efforts of LAWMA since the acting MD Ibrahim, came into office were designed to ensure he is not considered for a permanent position by the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Aside from this, it is alleged that efforts to check the books of some of the Contractors who have constituted themselves into a cartel and are involved in a massive racketeering at LAWMA, informed the paid protests. The shady deals, it was revealed, ran into tens of millions for several months, thus bleeding Lagos’ treasury to the tune of hundreds of millions of Naira in total.
BlackBox Nigeria further gathered that the man in the video, Olamide Sulaimon is a close associate of Iron Lady who appears to be at daggers drawn against the new MD whom she has reportedly promised to deal with for daring to question how much she collects from the government coffers to do nothing.
