Emeka Umoh, an employee of Hongxing Steel
Company Limited in the Amuwo Odofin area of
Lagos State, was scalded to death after
liquefied iron spilled on his body last
Wednesday while on duty.
He died at the Lagos University Teaching
Hospital, where he was rushed to for treatment.
Another worker, Adebayo Ajiboye, was
reportedly squeezed to death by a compressor
sometime in February.
It was gathered that there was almost a face-
off between the management of the company
and the workers, after the management decided
to take the remains of the father of three to a
morgue in a tipper.
Twenty-three-year old Obinna Eze, an indigene
of Ebonyi State, who recently lost three fingers
to a compressor, accused the management of
the company of disregard for human lives.
Eze, who spoke with Punch at the Federal
Medical Centre, Ebute-Meta, where he was
admitted to, said he had left Ebonyi State for
Lagos in January 2015, to “hustle”, adding that
he joined the steel company with high hopes.
He said:
“We had to work through targets,
which we call tonnage. Everyday, the
amount of work you do is weighed
on a scale, and you write your pay
for the day down. Everything is
summed up into what you collect
every month. Sometimes I get N35,
000 every month, depending on how
hard I work.
“I was among the workers operating
the compressor, which we use to
compress iron. On 10 August,
around 5.50am, I was cleaning up
the machine we had used to work
overnight, when I noticed a crane
heading in my direction. As I was
trying to escape it, I never knew
when my hand became trapped in
the compressor.”
He said the machine chopped off three fingers,
after which he was taken to the hospital.
“I am in pain right now. I have just
started my life, but with this, I don’t
know what to do again. I am
confused,” he added.
Eze said there were regular accidents, which
were usually caused by faulty machines.
He said:
“Accidents happen from time to
time. Workers sustain lifelong
deformities like my own. Some
people die. The reason is because
when the machines are faulty and we
call our bosses to repair them, they
simply tell us to manage them.”
Punch met with another worker of the company
admitted in another hospital, who said he
sustained a fracture after he was trapped by a
machine in the company.
The worker, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, alleged that the company
management treated its Nigerian workers as
slaves. He said they were forced to work round
the clock for a meager pay.
He said:
“I have been working for more than
one year, and yet, I have not been
given an employment letter. The
company does not have permanent
factory workers and that is why they
can fire us at any time.
“People die in the company like fowl
and nothing happens about it.
Ajiboye was my friend and he was
very hungry that fateful day. He
asked us for money to eat, but
nobody gave him. He later bought
biscuit and went back to work.
“A few minutes later, I heard a
scream and by the time we rushed
there, the compressor had crushed
him to death.
“Our Chinese bosses brought a
tipper and as they moved his
remains into it, we started
protesting. We were careful because
we knew we could also lose our
jobs.
“We did not allow them to take the
corpse out in the tipper until they
got an ambulance,” he said.
The worker alleged that some members of staff
were sometimes beaten up by their Chinese
bosses. He said if any of the workers
complained, the person was quickly fired and
another employee hired.
“There is always a crowd of people
at the gate, waiting to be called in.
So, immediately you are sacked, they
will go to the gate and handpick
people to come in.
“These new people are first placed
on training allowance of N650 per
day and they could be on training for
about six months before they are
placed on salary. But nobody is a
permanent staff.”
He said the workers were always exposed to
hazards, which sometimes led to permanent
injuries. He said:
“Just a few weeks back, liquid iron
poured down the body of one of my
friends and it peeled off half of his
backside. Another person was
blinded after the liquid affected his
eyes.
“The recent case was that of Emeka,
who died on Sunday, September 20,
after the liquid iron spilled on his
body. He was rushed to LUTH,
where he died. There are many more
who have become blinded and
disabled.”
He said many of the workers could not resign
because they had nowhere to turn to.
“There is no rest; we work from
Monday to Sunday, including public
holidays. We are suffering,” he
added
Another worker told PUNCH Metro that people
who worked in the “cook department” were the
worst hit of all the workers in the company.
