CRS workers protest over alleged non -payment of salaries

Emmanuel Alfred

About 1,700 Cross River State Civil Servants on Tuesday, August 23, 2023, took to the street to vent their frustration on the Government over the non payment of five years salaries reportedly owed them by the State Government.

According to reports reaching News Dot Africa, the protesters converged at the State Secretariat as early as 7:30am, blocked the entrance to the secretariat and demanded that their salaries of five years should be paid.

The workers who carried placards with various inscriptions, chanted solidarity songs and appealed to the Government to make good on their promise of putting food on the table by paying pay their salaries.

Mr Raphael Antigha, who spoke on behalf of the protesting Workers said they have not received any salary since they were gainfully employed between 2017 and 2018.

In his words: “We have made many contacts with the Government to get them to pay us our due but nothing positive has come out of it.
“They (the Government) have made us undergo two screening and verification exercises in a bid to resolve the issue but the issue remains the same.
“We were duly employed and have all been issued establishment numbers, appointment letters and properly documented. We are just about 1,700 in number and the highest salary amongst us is N47,000.

The Head of Service (HoS), Cross River State, Mr Ogbang Akwaji, refuted such allegations stating that the state was not indebted to any worker.

“Cross River State Government has placed great premium on the welfare of it’s workforce, despite challenging revenue inflows.

“At the moment, July 2022 salaries have been paid to workers by the Cross River State government. There are no workers in the state who are being owed five years salaries,” Akwaji said.