(Street sweepers. Photo Credit: TARABA STATE NEWS)
The Chairman of the Taraba State Environmental and Sanitation Agency, Illiya Kefas, has walked back an earlier statement, clarifying that the decision to reduce the monthly allowance of street sweepers under the Operation Keep Taraba Clean programme from N15,000 to N10,000 was an internal administrative measure and not a directive from Governor Agbu Kefas.
The clarification came a day after Kefas had told journalists in Jalingo on Monday that the reduction followed a gubernatorial directive aimed at managing available resources following the recruitment of new workers into the state and local government civil services.
Speaking on Tuesday, he said the salary adjustment became necessary due to the agency’s increasing workforce and operational expenses across the state’s 16 local government areas.
The latest reduction marks the third cut in the earnings of the street sweepers since the programme was introduced in 2023, when workers were initially engaged at a monthly allowance of N20,000.
In March 2024, their allowance was reduced to N15,000 after they were reportedly asked to either accept a N5,000 cut or forfeit their positions.
In May 2026, they received N10,000 another N5,000 reduction leaving their earnings at half of what they received when the programme began.
Explaining the agency’s financial pressures, Kefas said it manages a large workforce including 16 local government coordinators, supervisors, and monitoring teams, with coordinators earning between N100,000 and N200,000 monthly and supervisors receiving a minimum of N50,000 each.
He added that the agency spends over N5 million monthly on feeding more than 100 casual workers engaged in daily sanitation activities across the state’s 16 local government areas, while team leaders also receive daily allowances and the agency commits substantial resources to waste evacuation and environmental sanitation.
In a text message to journalists on Monday, Kefas defended the decision, saying workers dissatisfied with the new allowance were free to leave.
He also cited limited allocations from the Federation Account and the state’s expanding wage obligations as additional factors affecting the agency’s finances.
