Hundreds of employees at the Lagos State Water Corporation are in shock after being laid off last week.
The sudden move according to The PUNCH, affecting 450 casual workers, has raised concerns among remaining staff and highlighted existing manpower shortages within the corporation.
PUNCH Metro reported that workers received their termination letters on Tuesday with immediate effect, prompting fears and uncertainty among their colleagues.
Many expressed surprise at the scale of the layoffs, especially given the existing lack of personnel.
“We were all shocked,” said one employee who wished to remain anonymous. “Nobody knew this was going to happen. We don’t have enough staff as it is. There was one person left to clean this entire place after the layoffs.”
The official reason provided by the corporation attributed the decision to a restructuring effort. However, employees questioned the rationale behind such a move, given the pre-existing staffing shortages.
“They say they’re restructuring, but how many people need to be sacked before that’s done?” questioned another employee.
Further investigation revealed that the laid-off workers had been employed under contract agreements exceeding the legal limit of two years. The state government claimed this breach of labor laws necessitated the termination of their contracts.
“The government found out that the LSWC contract staff members have not been in accordance with the contract appointment law,” said Kehinde Fashola, the corporation’s Public Relations Officer. “Some of them have been contract staff for 10 years and some for five years, which is not in accordance with the country’s labor law.”
