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Approaching
eateries and banks in Lagos and other parts of the country, security
operatives in uniforms, popularly known as corporate guards, have
resorted to making ends meet by asking customers for tips.

Some of the guards told NEXT this was to help them cope with their pay.

“We are still here
because there are no other jobs for us to do”, one of the guards said
last week in Lagos on condition of anonymity.

“I have worked for
over 20 years. My salary was 300 naira when I started. Everything was
good then. They even negotiated with clients to increase guards’
salary. Now, all of that had stopped, especially now that they have
more clients. No medical and retirement benefits. You are not allowed
to go on leave, and nothing is given to you when your appointment is
terminated. It took me over twenty years to be able to earn N20,000 as
monthly pay. For over five years now, some guards have not received
increase in pay. This is modern slavery.”

The complaint of
the guards is almost the same. It is either of poor salary as a result
of their company taking too much percentage from what the clients are
paying, or absence of benefits.

Some of the guards
working with Real Assets, Halogen Security Limited, and Prudential
Guard also complained of late payment of salary and jostlings to be
posted for proximity advantage.

A former corporate
guard, Ejiro Abuwa, mourned what he called “marginalisation of
corporate guards in the country.” Mr. Ejiro, who divided the private
security companies into two: namely, downstream and upstream sectors,
said there is no future for any one working as a corporate guard under
private contract agreement.

‘I worked with two
security outfits for 16 years. I started with Amnesty Security and I
was with them for five years; I later left to join Prudential Guard,
for which I worked within the capacity of security operative to
supervisor until the time I left,’ he said.

‘One of the reasons
I left was poor condition of service. No matter the time you put in,
there is no pension; there is no gratuity. Up-stream simply means: the
owners of the security outfits who handle the administrative
departments where you have the CEOs and the Managers.

“And then you the
down-stream, where you have the guards and their supervisors. Wherever
the guard is posted, the client has no interest in him. If he sustains
injury in the line of duty, he is on his own. Whatever the client does
for him is on a compassionate ground,” Mr. Ejiro said.

One major issue
that is pathetic in Mr. Ejiro’s story is the high level of
confidentiality between the security outfits and their clients in
concealing vital information from the guards in order to deny them due
benefits.

According to him,
some unscrupulous officials of both the security outfits and their
clients connive in disguise of confidentiality in order to rub the
ignorant guards of their entitlement.

Mr. Ejiro calls on
government and the relevant agency in charge, the Nigerian Security and
Civil Defence corps (NSCDC) to, as matter of urgency, implement
policies to help strengthen the sector.

Another former corporate guard, Samuel Yenki, laments what he called “high level of corruption’ in the sector.

“I worked with a
security firm for over ten years. I left when I learnt the client was
paying N18,000 for my head, and the company was paying me N6,000. A
friend of mine suffered a similar fate,” he said.

Better monitoring needed

The managing
director of Coast Land Security Safety and Consultancy Services Nigeria
Limited (CSSSNL), Chris Utulana, admitted that some private security
companies are indeed enslaving their employees in order to enrich
themselves.

He said the NSCDC is currently working to ensure a better working environment for corporate guards in the country.

“I know that they
are working hard to establish the Association of Private Security Guard
of Nigeria (ASPN), that is going to be the umbrella body of all the
security companies in Nigeria. Very soon, the security employment
bench-mark will be out,” he said.

Mr. Otulana, who is
a retired colonel in the army, however, advised guards to bear in mind
that, in case of losses and theft, it is the security company that is
liable, and not the guards.

“A good security
company pay taxes, pay up to N500 to the Civil Defence per corps.
Including other administrative causes the guards are not aware off. In
the case of theft, the company is responsible not the guards,” he said.

The director
general of the International Institute of Professional Security (IIPC),
Tony Ofoyetan, said a professional security company should not pay a
guard less than 65 percent of what the client is offering.

“In terms of the
industry itself, we have the Private Guard Company Acts, 1996. The
essence of that Act is to tell who is qualified to run a private guard
company. The Act also prohibits foreigners from running a private guard
company in Nigeria,” he said.

Reacting to the
‘modern slavery’ allegation by some of the guards, Mr. Ofoyetan said it
was lazy for guards to say they are being enslaved and still remain in
enslavement.

“It is a bad staff
that will go to the extent of running his organisation down. Have you
ever bothered to ask yourself, what is the qualification of the person
that said he is been enslaved?”

Mr. Ofoyetan,
however, admitted that there were some bad eggs among the private guard
companies, whom he said “are not professionals, but called themselves
‘CEO’, and are in the sector to make quick returns of investment.”

In a swift
reaction, the Chief Superintendent Corps (CSC), NSCDC, in charge of
private guard company, Ray Ekwueme, said that some private guard
companies had been closed down as a result of fall in standard of the
NSCDC.

“We are working
towards a better condition for the guards. We encourage them to always
come to us with useful information that can help arrest the situation.
There are rules governing private guarding; medical benefit for guards
is compulsory. The board of a security company must have military
personnel on its board. Licences had been seized in the past as a
result of non compliance in these areas,” he said.

Be glad for the work

On the issue of
percentage to be paid out to guards, Mr. Ekwueme said a decision has
not been reached on that because the clients do not pay the same amount.

“If we should say
65 percent, how do you settle guards whose clients are paying N20,000
per month or less? It will amaze you to know what some of these big
companies pay for guard! We are currently on a structure of N10,000
minimum wage, no matter how low the client is paying. No guard should
earn less than N10,000 per month.”

The managing
director of Halogen Security Limited, Wale Olaoye, dismissed the claim
of non medical benefits by Halogen guards, adding that such guards must
be ‘‘fake Halogen officials.”

“We have Health Management Organisation (HMO) and Retaining Hospitalisation (RH) programmes,” he said.

Though some guards
with a bank complained of been given N10,000 annual medical allowance,
NEXT investigation shows they seem to be working in paradise when
compared to their counterparts serving in sectors such as telecoms,
some embassies and banks, with the exception of Zenith Bank, whose
guards are said to be well taken care off.

The Head of the
Security Unit (HSU) at GTB, Sina Borisade, said the company has a
structure on ground that would be improved on from time to time.

“We take guards from the Nigerian Legion,” he said. “We tell the
Legion what we want and an agreement is reached. I think we have been
able to manage our guards well, and we will consolidate on that,” he
said.