PATRICK ABANG Calabar –
Civil Servants in Cross River State on Wednesday morning took to the streets protesting against what they called non-payment of their four years salary.
The civil servants from the 18 local government areas (LGAs) of the state barricaded all the gates leading to the State’s New Secretariat along the Mural Mohammed highway with different banners and placards and one of the banners read, “ three Years without salary, who did we offend? We go to work everyday. The injustice is too much. Every labourer deserves his wages. Governor Ayade please pay us salary”.
The protesting workers, who chanted songs of solidarity, occupied the front of the entrance to the state New Secretariat and insisted that their salaries must be paid before they vacate the secretariat. They also threatened to take the protest to the governor’s office at Diamond Road.
Leader and spokesman for the protesting civil servants, Comrade David Iyanya, said, “We are civil servants cut across the 18 LGAs in Cross River State. We have been owed salaries for four years dating back to 2015 and 2018, it is very sad that for four years, we have stayed without salaries, yet we come to work every day.
“ The Head of Civil Service told us that we would be paid this August and we took her words as a mother only to discover that they were lies. Today, we have mothers, fathers and children here and school is resuming soon, how do we feed? For four years out of 35 years, how many years are left?”
He said they were employed since 2018 and “we have all authentic appointment letters duly signed by the government of Cross River state and we were posted to our different Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).is This present administration employed us and the head of service keeps telling us she’s going to meet with His Excellency and His Excellency as we know, has a good mind but Head of Service has blatantly refused to submit our names to His Excellency and we know His Excellency is a busy man and so he delegates people to do things.
“We are about 1700 people cut across the 18 LGAs. His Excellency released a huge sum of money for verification. We have lost three of our colleagues; two women and a man. We have lost count of those in the hospital. The children here came with their parents because they have no money to feed and so they were brought along to buy snacks for them when they go hungry, instead of leaving them at home and they are actively involved in the protest”. He said.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the state’s Head of Civil Service is yet to react to the protest as of the time of filing this report.
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