A factory worker with Spring Feeds Limited, Adekunle
Shokunbi, has lamented how he suffered an industrial accident that made him
lose his right hand while working with the company in the Itamaga area of
Ikorodu, Lagos State.
It was gathered that Adekunle, alongside other colleagues
was working when he attempted to clear the remnants of the animal feeds in the
machine used in mixing the products at the company’s factory.
The 22-year-old said his right hand was inside the machine
when his colleague, identified only as David, suddenly switched it on, adding
that the machine cut his hand.
Adekunle said as he
was writhing in pain, his colleagues rushed him to the Ijede General Hospital,
adding that he lost consciousness when he got to the hospital.
He said, “I was employed as a stockist and at a point when
the company was short staffed, it started diversifying and I was directed to
supervise workers at the factory.
“I was carrying out my daily duty on April 5 when I suddenly
realised that the workload was too much for the available staff members. So,
instead of sitting down to just supervise, I assisted the people working at the
factory to offload the animal feeds that the machine had mixed into a sack.
“While working, I realised that there were remnants of
animal feed inside the machine and decided to clear the remnants with my hand
because that has been the way they usually clear remnants in the machine ever
since I got there.
“As I was clearing the remnants, one of the staff members,
David, switched on the machine while my hand was inside it and the machine cut
my hand. I kept shouting that he should put off the machine but he panicked and
the machine damaged my right hand severely. My colleagues quickly rushed me to
the Ijede General Hospital and when I got there, I lost consciousness.”
Adekunle’s mother, Ajoke, said after her son was stabilised
at the Ijede General Hospital, he was transferred to the National Orthopaedic
Hospital, Igbobi, from where he was transferred to the Lagos University
Teaching Hospital, where Adekunle’s right hand was cut off during surgery.
The 46-year-old said, “I was at home when his dad called to
inform me that a machine had cut my son’s hand. I was shocked. When I got to
the hospital, I realised that his right hand had been bandaged so I could not
see it properly. It was until we got to LUTH that I realised that he had
sustained a very serious injury.
“We have been trying to have a meeting with the managing
director of the company, but it has not been successful. She was insisting on
meeting us at our house but we were advised to give a neutral ground for the
meeting. So, we gave her the address of the neutral ground and when she got
there and realised it was not our house, she zoomed off and we have not been
able to have a meeting with her since then.”
A picture in possession of our correspondent showed Adekunle
lying on a hospital bed with his hand bandaged.
Another picture showed the mangled hand in a bucket after
being chopped off during surgery. A picture that showed the Ogun State indigene
with no right hand was also seen.
The family’s lawyer, Olumide Adefila, while demanding
justice for the victim, petitioned the managing director regarding the
incident.
In the petition, dated May 4, 2022, Adefila demanded a
prosthetic hand for Adekunle and N40m compensation.
The petition read in part, “Our client is just 22-year-old
and will carry this shame and stigma of permanent disability for the rest of
his life wherein he will be deprived of many things for as long as he lives.
“We have our client’s stern instruction to demand that a
prosthetic hand be procured for him with immediate effect; that a workman
compensation in the sum of N40m be paid to our client for the permanent and
irreversible physical deformity suffered by our client due to no fault of his
whilst being in the employment of your company.”
The MD of the company, Dayo Seriki, said the accident was
caused by Adekunle, adding that he went beyond his duty.
He said, “It is not his duty to go and operate the machine;
he went there on his own. How can somebody operate a machine without knowing
about the machine? When the accident happened, I followed them everywhere and
paid all the bills in the hospital. I have all my facts and figures as we never
abandoned him.
“They said I should pay N100m, where will I get it? Do they
want to kill me or cut my hand? Kunle Shokunbi is alive and I thank God for
that, but if it is his mother that wants to dupe me because something happened
to her child as she’s asking for N100m whereas the company is on a plot of
land, so where is the money. We are still paying his salary.”
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