Lagos-Ibadan Expressway: Where Graduates Earn Just N30,000 Monthly for 11 Hours of Hard and Stressful Work

After an interaction with some of them, it was gathered that, rather than engaging in demeaning jobs like prostitution, these ladies, who are graduates of different tertiary institutions, said they applied as traffic controllers and flag girls on the expressway with the firm handling the reconstruction work.

According to Vanguard, the girls, up to 10 in number, graduated from different tertiary institutions. They spend up to 11 hours on the road every day, with an hour break, while they are paid per hour.

The flag-girls earn between N30,000 and N40,000 monthly.

It was a herculean task getting to talk with the ladies for two reasons. One, they will not want to lose precious work-time, and they will not want to incur the wrath of their employers by speaking to the press.

However, it has been learnt that the ladies, without exception, were there for mere survival.

Their salaries are calculated hourly and public holidays are deducted from their pay.

One of them, a National Diploma graduate from a Polytechnic, studied Insurance. When asked why she was a flag-girl, she replied:

“Because there is no job and I cannot be sitting at home doing nothing that is why I am here.

“I am a flag girl. We resume as early as 6 a.m. and close 6 p.m. every day, except Sunday that we close at 3 p.m. This job is stressful, but because I had worked with a security outfit, I don’t find the job too stressful.”

Job Satisfaction

When asked about job satisfaction, she said:

“There is none, I do this because there is no job. I will only beg the government to provide jobs for young graduates. I am doing this because I don’t want to depend on any man.

“I will advise my colleagues to think ahead, not sitting at home and they should not depend on men because they will destroy their lives.

“They should know what they are doing before it is too late. Whatever I realise here will be used for my HND programme.”

Another graduate of Esa-Oke College of Technology, who studied Urban and Regional Planning, is a flag girl too.

“I was pushed to the wall before I decided to take this job. I came here to work in order to get some money rather than sitting at home.

“I am not that happy about the job, but I am doing it because of the situation. Standing in the middle of the road is very risky. Many vehicles speed a lot and they could swerve and hit someone.

“They calculate 11 hours for us daily. It is supposed to be 12 hours but, we normally go for one hour break,” she narrated.

Advising young people, she said:

“Whoever does not have family support should brace up for the challenges. Whoever does not want to mess around because it does not pay, should find something doing.”

Another flag-girl, who turned 23 recently, from National Teachers Institute said:

“I am from Ibadan. I just went to Kaduna for my NCE programme. It is because of the condition of the country that made me come back here to work. One of my friends was working with this company, so she was the one that gave me her slot when she was leaving the place.”

Paid Per Hour

“The salary is not what you can say this is the amount I am collecting because they base it on hours spent.

“It is not that I don’t want to teach being a professional teacher with NCE, but, the salary offered by those private schools is too small.

“I will advise my colleagues to manage what they have and be conscious of their tomorrow.” 

READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/57388.html