Scrap dealers in Lagos State have described the ban on cart pushers by the state government as unacceptable.
The dealers, under the umbrella of National Association of Scraps and Waste Dealers Employers of Nigeria (NASWADEN), gave the government a 14-day ultimatum to rescind its decision or face massive protest.
The scrap dealers rose from a meeting yesterday with all the zones and units of the association, a trade union group, at Gidan Kwali, in Ojota, Lagos.
Among the zones represented are Ikeja, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ikorodu, Alimosho, Kosofe, Shomolu, Oshodi-Isolo, Mushin, Ojo, Apapa, Ajeromi/Ifelodun and Lagos Island.
The state chairman of the association, Comrade Friday Oku, who addressed the meeting, expressed the association’s readiness to dialogue with the government on the development.
According to Oku, members of NASWADEN had been engaged in turning waste to wealth in the state, and, therefore, banning the cart pushers “who help to pick scraps of iron, paper, aluminum, zinc and other metal objects” would cause massive unemployment.
He said, “We have given the government a 14-day ultimatum. After that, we will give them another one week, making it 21 days, which is what the Trade Union Act stipulates. After that, we will embark on massive peaceful demonstration. We don’t pray it degenerates to that level.”
At the meeting also was the General Secretary of the Federation of Informal Workers Organization of Nigeria (FIWON), Mr Gbenga Komolafe, who described the ban as “part of the government’s relentless attacks on informal workers”, who he said constitute 80 per cent of the working population.
