Street sweepers on the streets of Jos, the Plateau State capital have lamented the hardship they have endured for 16 years.
The cleaners, all of whom are widows complain that their monthly salary has remained N8,000 since the administration of Jonah Jang.
The government at that time, introduced a widowhood policy as a means of ameliorating the plight of women in the state whose husbands have died.
Reports say that by 2015 when the administration of Jang ended, the state government had recruited about 5,000 widows under the scheme.
However, 16 years down the line, these widows and cleaners have cried about their static salaries considering these hard times.
They narrated to Daily Post, their ordeal surviving on the paltry wage.
One of the cleaners identified as Mrs Titi Musa, who sits along Lamingo Road, told said “I am among the pioneer staff of the ministry. We were recruited by the Jonah Jang administration and our salary is N8,000.00 per month. They say they are helping us, but in some months, they don’t pay us. I am doing it because I don’t have anyone to take care of me. I have five children but two of them died after I lost my husband. The remaining three have no jobs. So, I have to do something to take care of myself.”
Another street cleaner working at Miango Junction, Mrs. Keziah John, also said, “It’s been 11 years now since I joined the street cleaners, and my salary is still N8,000 per month.”
Yet another cleaner at the Rukuba Road, Mrs Naomi Song who became a widow over 30 years ago said that “My problem is that this N8,000 cannot buy anything. I don’t see it as the government helping us; we are just toiling for us to eat. We have been expecting the government to increase our salary but they refused and there is nothing we can do about it.”