A civil rights organisation, the Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ), has petitioned the Presidency and other relevant government agencies accusing two Ogun State-based companies of gross human rights abuse and violations against their workers.

In a statement issued on Friday, December 4, signed by its Executive Chairman, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman, the group accused the two companies, Wadoye Nigeria Limited and Purechem Manufacturing Limited, of having formed the habit of providing their workforce with poor working environment.

According to CHRSJ, the poor working conditions have resulted in series of permanent injuries to their workforce and that the managements usually abandoned the affected members of staff to their fate when so injured.

Apart from the Presidency, CHRSJ also wrote to the Ogun State Government, specifically, the State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, the Directorate of State Security (DSS), Inspector-General of Police, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) as well as the two chambers of the National Assembly.

The petition is calling on the affected government agencies to ensure justice for workers by instituting probe into the operations of the two companies, arrest as well as prosecution of errant members of the management staff.

Sulaiman, in the statement, also called for adequate compensation to victims who have lost some vital organs of their bodies such as hands and legs in the two companies manufacturing processes, saying the losses have incapacitated victims for life as they would now be dependent on others for their day-to-day activities for the remainder of their lives.

“We have written no fewer than seven separate petitions to several authorities cataloguing the nefarious activities of the managements of these two firms, whose staff members have contracted several injuries both physically and psychologically,” Sulaiman on behalf of the group wrote, adding: “We intend to pursue the case to a logical conclusion.”

They identified one of the affected victims to include Prince Olaoye Opeyemi who was initially employed as a security officer by Wadoye Nigeria Limited with staff number WEL/00/039 but was later transferred to the residence of the Managing Director of the company, Alhaji Waheed Haruna, to perform the same task.

Recounting his ordeal he stated that he was asked to operate a machine at the residence of the Managing Director in 2002 which he had never operated before but was unlucky to have lost four of his fingers in the process, thus rendering him incapacitated for life.

According to Opeyemi, “They (the company) initially secured treatment for me at a popular hospital in Ajuwon area of Ogun State with a promise to pay me some form of compensation for the injuries. They also promised to reabsorb me back to the company when the treatment was completed.

“As I speak to you now, no compensation has been paid to me, even though I was reabsorbed as promised but since I came back I have been made to do very hard jobs such as weeding of the lawns. In the end, I was eventually sacked from the company in 2006 for no just cause.” Commenting on the issue, Sulaiman said: “This is the usual practice of Haruna and his company who usually use and dump their workers when they sustain serious injuries while working for them. We have records of many workers of the company who have suffered similar fate in the past.”

CHRSJ listed former workers of Wadoye Nigeria Limited who had suffered the same fate in the past to include Mr. Samuel Kayode Odelabu, Sunday Adekanmbi, Soji Akinsanya, Atanda Adewale, Talabi Oloruntuyi, Segun Saliu and one Jaho Pius who were all sacked alongside Opeyemi in 2006.

A sister organisation of CHRSJ, Conscience Mainstream (CM) had dragged Wadoye Nigeria Limited, the management of the company and Haruna before the Lagos State Office of Public Defender (OPD) when the company was then located in Lagos State.

“We were able to secure compensation for all the affected victims at the OPD except that of Opeyemi who was the only unfortunate staff to have missed out owing to the disagreement over the paltry amount of money being offered him by the company,” he said.

The mediation, according to the group, was brokered by the then director in charge of the OPD, Mrs. Bisi Akinlade, who is currently a judge at the Lagos State High Court.

CHRSJ stated that the second company, Purechem Manufacturing Limited, is currently being investigated by the Ogun State Command of the Directorate of State Security Service (DSS) over series of rights violation against its members of staff.

The group stated that a staff of the company, Mr. Abdulateef Tunde Giwa, who lost a finger to an incidence during a manufacturing process that occurred in 2011 has not been paid any form of compensation since then.

The group told the management of Purechem to redeem their compensation pledge to Giwa on or before the end of December, failure in which members of the group would be mobilized to picket the company premises for a whole year in 2021 until payment is made.

He listed other firms that are careless for the welfare of the staff members to include the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), Central South Construction Company (CSCC), Catertainment Company, Nigeria Cartoon and Packaging Company (NICAPACO), Wahum Nigeria Limited, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC, Cadbury Nigeria Plc., Vital Construction Company Limited, Topwide Ventures Limited, Tin Can Island Container Terminal Limited, APM Terminal, Beamco Limited Engineering Construction and others.

“We are calling on relevant authorities to be alive to their responsibilities of safeguarding the welfare of Nigerians in the workplaces or stations. We are urging them (the authorities) to draft and device workable documents needed for safeguarding their safety. They should also go further to implement the contents of the documents to the letter.

“We are making the call based on our findings in recent times where we have observed the manner with which our compatriots are being treated as slaves and serfs in their country by employers of labour. The conditions of service have been too appalling to say the least,” the group stated.

CHRSJ however expressed its resolve to sue some companies to court for infringing on the rights of their workers if the trend continues unabated.

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