Taraba sanitation chair defends salary cut for street sweepers

Illiya Kefas, Chairman of the Taraba State Environmental and Sanitation Agency, has clarified that the recent reduction in the monthly allowance for the 'Operation Keep Taraba Clean' street sweepers, from N15,000 to N10,000, was an internal administrative decision. This adjustment aims to manage the agency's growing workforce and operational costs across the state's 16 local government areas.

Kefas stated that the salary adjustment became necessary due to the agency's expanding operational expenses and a larger workforce, which includes 16 local government coordinators, supervisors, monitoring teams, and over 100 casual workers. He detailed significant expenditures, noting that coordinators earn between N100,000 and N200,000 monthly, supervisors receive at least N50,000 each, and over N5 million is spent monthly on feeding casual workers.

This latest reduction follows previous adjustments. Introduced in 2023 with a monthly allowance of N20,000, the street sweepers saw their earnings decrease to N15,000 in March 2024. The current N10,000 allowance represents half of their initial earnings when the program began.

Kefas emphasized that the agency's substantial financial commitments, including daily allowances for team leaders and resources for waste evacuation, necessitated the salary adjustment to ensure the sustainability of its operations. He asserted that the decision was made internally to sustain the agency's activities and was not a directive from Governor Agbu Kefas, contrary to earlier reports.

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The arrangement was an internal decision to sustain the activities of the agency and not a directive from the governor.