EXCLUSIVE: Oyo Environmental Workers ‘Get Monthly Arrest Quotas Based On Paying Offenders’, Allegedly Face Threats Of Dismissal For Missing Targets | Sahara Reporters
According to the worker, about 400 people were initially involved, but fewer than 200 were assigned to carry out environmental enforcement operations, including the arrest of environmental offenders.
Ad-hoc environmental enforcement workers under the Oyo State Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources have alleged that they are being subjected to mandatory arrest targets and threatened with removal from work if they fail to meet monthly quotas set by the ministry.
The workers, operating under the Environmental Vanguard, also alleged that they have been ordered to arrest environmental offenders without security personnel or government vehicles, exposing them to attacks and injuries.
One of the affected workers, who spoke to SaharaReporters, said many of the workers had been engaged by the ministry since 2017 and that two separate approvals by Governor Seyi Makinde for their employment to be regularised had not been implemented.
“Despite the fact that we have gotten two separate approvals from Governor Seyi Makinde for our engagements to be regularized as permanent staff, yet our ministry refused to make it happen due to their own selfish interest,” the worker alleged.
According to the worker, about 400 people were initially involved, but fewer than 200 were assigned to carry out environmental enforcement operations, including the arrest of environmental offenders.
The worker said the enforcement officers had carried out arrests since 2019, usually with security personnel and government vehicles, but that the situation had changed under the current Commissioner for Environment, Ademola Aderinto.
“Although we have been doing it since 2019 with security personnel, we used to face attacks even with the presence of security personnel and a government vehicle,” the worker said.
“Now the Commissioner for Environment asked us to be making arrests without security and no government vehicle. We transport offenders with motorcycles and tricycles.
“Many of us do not have a means of identification, yet he (Commissioner Ademola Aderinto) gave us targets. He gave us the number of people we must arrest monthly. Failure to meet the targets is complete removal from work.”
Another worker alleged that only a fraction of the workers is involved in field enforcement, while others allegedly remain in offices or appear mainly during official programmes.
“That target is for fewer than 200 of us. The rest are ghost workers. We only see many of them during orientation programs. Some just sit in the office enjoying the air conditioning, while we are forced to make arrests by fire by force,” the worker alleged.
The worker also alleged that the monthly targets are based not merely on the number of environmental offenders arrested but on the number of those who subsequently pay fines.
According to the worker, officers could arrest several offenders but would only receive credit for those able to pay the required fines.
“For example, if officers on a route arrest 10 environmental offenders, if five of them are able to pay the fine, only those five paying offenders would be counted for those officers,” the worker alleged.
“The remaining five who were not able to pay fines would be counted as a loss for those officers.
“All the stress and transport money those officers used to apprehend offenders who were not able to pay fines are wasted efforts, and those officers would be counted as unable to meet his (commissioner’s) targets.
“Those officers would be removed from work and they would not be paid for all the working period.”
Also, explaining how the quota system works, another worker said, “For example, if on one route, they are 10 in number. If they arrest one paying offender, it equals 10%; three paying offenders equal 30%.
“Earlier last month, the Commissioner gave us a target of 25%, which equals three paying offenders. For a team, seven of their offenders paid, so they were supposed to have 70%. Instead of 70%, they recorded 50% for them. I understand that they lodged a complaint, and they admitted their mistake, only for them to learn that the given targets had changed from 25% to 100%.
“This means they were expected to arrest 10 paying offenders. So those who are 20 on a route are expected to arrest 20 paying offenders for them to return to the system.”
The worker also alleged that several enforcement officers had sustained injuries while carrying out their duties, but claimed that the ministry had failed to provide adequate protection or support.
“We sustained a series of injuries during this work and the ministry does not care. Their own is just for us to make arrests by all means,” the worker said.
The allegations raise questions about the working conditions, safety measures and enforcement practices being applied to the state’s environmental enforcement personnel.
SaharaReporters contacted the new Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Sunday Akinwale Moradeyo, and the Personal Assistant to Commissioner Aderinto for their reactions to the allegations.