LASEMA ad hoc Staff Complain Bitterly as they’ve not been paid Salary since November

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.