COVID-19 Pandemic: Anambra sacks 8000 workers
The Anambra State Waste Management Company (ASWMC) has sacked no fewer than 8000 casual workers.
The managing director of the company, Mr Emeka Ajekwu disclosed this to reporters on Thursday in Awka, the Anambra State capital.
He said the reason for relieving them their duties was because of the COVID-19 pandemic that had hindered the operations of the company.
Ajekwu said, “The pandemic has adversely affected our operations as we lack access to production materials.
He said the company signed a waste recycling contract of $1.1m with the Anambra State Government in 2019.
He explained that the company shutdown in February to avoid exposing their frontline workers to danger of the pandemic.
According to him, waste management practitioners always picked disease from diseases dumpsters “because the pick from some bins that you don’t know who might have dropped them or what the might have been used for”
He added,“We also shutdown because most of our products come from across the state and what we produce are evacuated to other states.
“We are facing difficulties because of boarder closure. We don’t have access to raw materials. In fact, we don’t have access to waste products again. So, it’s really affecting our business and as consequence we were compelled to downsize workers.
“We are pleading with the state government to intervene so that the sacked workers can be reinstated because the have their needs to meet and some of them earn below N500 daily.
“We are asking government to extend palliative measures to our staff. We have urged them all to go into agriculture and key into the agric policies of the Anambra State Government.
“We also plead with government to ensure transparency in the disbursement of support funds mapped out by Micro Finance Banks. We hope to commence moves to access them once the COVID-19 pandemic is over,’’ Ajekwu added.
