UPDATE-Street sweeper's body recovered in Lagos Lagoon three days she was knocked off Third Mainland Bridge

An image of Folasade Ogunniyi being recovered from the
lagoon under Lagos Third Mainland Bridge
A street sweeper Folasade Ogunniyi was knocked into a lagoon in Lagos State while she was performing her duty.

Her corpse was discovered and recovered from the lagoon underneath the 3rd Mainland Bridge on Friday, August 23, three days after she was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

Until her death, the late sweeper, a mother of three, was under the employment of by Highway Managers, an environment sanitation firm working in collaboration with the Lagos State Government.

On the day of the accident, Ogunniyi left her house in Oworonsoki area of Lagos about 5:30 a.m to her duty post- the ever-busy 3rd Mainland Bridge to sweep, her husband Sunday Ogunniyi told The Guardian.

“Some of the people that saw the incident said she was even yet to start work when the accident happened,” he said. 

“She was still placing cones when a certain Honda vehicle ran at her and hit her to the lagoon.”

She has since been buried. But there are no indications that she and others who sweep one of Nigeria’s busiest bridges were insured despite the danger inherent in the job.
Folasade Ogunniyi recovered from the lagoon
Before her death, Oguniyi was earning N15,000 per month from the company, an amount less than the minimum wage for the average Nigerian worker.

To compensate her family for the loss of their loved one and service she rendered for the 24 months of her engagement, Highway Manager said the family will be paid a meagre N45,000, which represents three months salary.

“We have communicated with the family and we are doing our part,” Highway Manager’s head at Rowe Park, Yaba, Lagos, Rotimi Sotanmi told our correspondent.

“The agreement is that we will continue paying her salary (N15,000) for three months.”

Ogunniyi’s husband told The Guardian that her employers said there was insurance after “working on her death certificate.”

“They (High Manager) told us that they are working on her death certificate and some other things. When it is ready, they said the insurance will be paid,” Ogunniyi said.

Sotanmi, however, told The Guardian that an unnamed insurance company had all the details and was working on making a substantial payment to the family.

“It is whenever they are through with it that the family can get it (insurance).”

The late worker’s husband has had a torrid time trying to know the exact amount due to the family and when it will be paid.

“I was always going there (the office) and I kept being asked to come back,” Ogunniyi said. Also, the deceased three months upfront salary that was promised has not been paid.

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