Cross River State civil servants are lamenting over the delay of January salary and the stress of verification exercises.The workers and pensioners were lamenting, yesterday, during the staff audit Bank Verification Number (BVN) verification exercise for civil servants and pensioners at the office of the Head of Service, New Secretariat, Calabar.
Essien, one of the civil servants, who spoke to The Guardian, lamented that the Bassey Otu administration is frustrating civil servants in the state with regular verification exercises, and that only a few workers have received salaries.
He said: “This government is not friendly with civil servants. This is no more the season of sweetness; this one is the season of bitterness. Why is the government stressing workers, and we have not received January salary till date. The people that have received are not up to half of the workers in the state. I know he is trying to return the state to how it used to be, but must we be hungry for that to happen?” One of the pensioners (visually impaired) said: “I have to beg my grandson to bring me to this place.
The government should pity pensioners like us; they can’t be making us do this all the time.”
However, a letter released by the office of the Secretary to State Government (SSG) said that about 80 per cent of the total workforce in the state civil service has been paid, but investigation revealed that less than that percentage were paid.
