Oyo State House of Assembly has directed the Commissioner of Police in the state and the Head of Operation Burst to submit a comprehensive report on the incident that led to the unfortunate killing of a casual worker during a protest at Sumal Foods in Ibadan
The directive followed a matter of urgent public importance on the incident brought to the house by lawmaker representing Ibadan Southwest Constituency 1, Hon. Yusuf Adebisi during plenary presided by the speaker, Mr Adebo Ogundoyin.
In his submission, Hon. Adebisi who expressed displeasure at the level of casualization and maltreatment of Nigerians working in some multinational companies in the country recalled different unfortunate incidents that had claimed innocent lives as a result of poor welfare of casual workers.
He said a 21-year-old University of Ibadan student, Gbadebo Richard who was on a holiday job at a factory in Ibadan fell into a soap-making machine and died in the process.
“Further notes that a similar unfortunate incident occurred at the British American Tobacco Company, Ibadan, where a Nigerian casual worker died from exposure to nicotine and tobacco materials, and no action was taken.
“These distressing incidents happen regularly in various industries, particularly in those owned by Lebanese nationals in Ibadan.
“My Speaker, on Monday, 1 July, 2024, a dreadful incident of assault, killing, and maahardling occurred at “Yale 3” branch of Sumal Foods Limited, producer of Yale biscuits and a range of other snacks in Oluyole Industrial Estate in Ibadan South West Local Government Area,two persons reportedly died and several others sustained injuries from live bullets fired by Nigerian Police officers and Operation Burst personnel.
Contributing during the plenary, some of the lawmakers frowned at the level of casualization of workers in Nigeria calling for the implemention and monitoring of the international labour Law.
Reacting, the speaker, Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin said the incident was unfortunate advocating the need to avoid such recurrence
Meanwhile, the house also adopted the report of the House Committee on Energy, which engaged with officials of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) where the house recommended that the company should make prepaid meters available to customers at subsidized rates to address the issue of excessive estimated billings.
