Cross River sacks over 4,000 ‘illegal’ workers

**From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar **

For about ten months, they waited anxiously for the first alert for their salaries to hit their bank accounts. Some have been working within the local government service, particularly in health centres and other arms of the local government service with the strong belief that they are now government workers after years of graduation.

Their colleagues, recruited alongside them, started enjoying salaries but they were surprised their own salaries had been unusually delayed. They were patient, continued working and hoped that somehow, along the line and in due course, they too will have their salaries possibly a lump sum that reflected the months they have spent in service

One month became two months and two months became over five months and their patience began to wear out. Hundreds and thousands of naira were spent daily and monthly to work by these workers and this fuelled their frustration as they could no longer run the expensive venture.

Several questions were asked and several issues were raised on social media as to why some workers were paid and others were not but there was no answer.

Some of the workers began protesting particularly in some communities like in Yala where the workers expressed their frustration with the unusual delay in paying their salaries despite offering their services to the government.

This culminated in a peaceful demonstration in Calabar, the state capital, in July this year where some of the affected workers defied a heavy downpour to express their frustration with the government over their predicament.

During the July protest, hundreds of newly employed local government workers in Cross River State said they had worked for 11 months without salaries and lost six colleagues in the process.

The protesters, drawn from across the 18 local government areas of the state, marched to the Governor’s Office with placards bearing inscriptions such as: “We are suffering,” “Put us on payroll,” and “Pay our salaries,” among others.

Protest leader, Uchi Julius, said those employed in 2025 resumed duties immediately but have received nothing despite working for almost one year.

“We are hungry. We are dying. We have lost more than six colleagues. They can never return,” Julius said.

He noted that one of the campaign promises of the current administration was “massive employment.”

“Today, at least 2,000 health workers said to have been employed are here with us, yet many of us have not been paid. We didn’t come here to beg for money; we came to ask for what we have worked for,” he added.

Another protester, Happiness Augustine, who said she was employed in January 2025, described the situation as distressing.

“It is one year and I have not received any salary. We are begging Governor Bassey Otu to have mercy on us because we have been diligent in our duties,” Augustine said.

She disclosed that one colleague died in a road accident while travelling for a screening exercise set up by the government after their first protest.

“We came for a protest before and a panel was set up. During the screening, one of our colleagues was involved in an accident and died. We are still waiting for the governor to say something,” she said.

As the workers anxiously waited for their money, rumours spread of a widespread fraud and racketeering over the process. Many of the employed workers alleged that huge sums were paid to some agents who facilitated the process.

Most of those who made this allegation declined to publicly name officials that took money to facilitate their recruitment.

Former chairman of the Cross River State Local Government Service Commission, Darlington Eyo, had, during an interview, said the service recruited over 4,000 workers to fill massive vacancies across the service and also deleted 800 ghost workers.

He said: “On the issue of ghost workers within the system, we are tackling the challenge head on. When you go to the field, you will not find anybody but the nominal roll is high up there.

“We swung into action by conducting a verification and personnel auditing which has unearthed so much and so far 800 ghost workers have been uncovered and deleted from the voucher.”

He also disclosed that over 4,000 new workers have been recruited into the local government system within the last one year based on merit and fair spread across the state. He debunked rumours of job racketeering in the recruitment process, saying the commission had a zero policy on this.

He further said a taskforce was in place to crack down on any one implicated in the vice and one suspect has been apprehended and charged to court thus far.

However, as most of the workers remained unpaid, allegations of racketeering grew louder. This ultimately cost the chairman of the commission his job and he formally resigned from office.

His resignation was contained in a government statement where Gov. Otu ordered a review of recent recruitments into the Local Government Service Commission in the state.

The statement which was signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Linus Obogo, also formally accepted the resignation of the chairman of the commission, Hon. Darlington Eyo. The governor, in the statement, also suspended the recruitment process organized by the commission which it described as compromised.

According to Gov. Otu, “following findings of gross misconduct and employment racketeering in the Local Government Service Commission, I have accepted the resignation of the commission’s chairman, Mr. Darlington Bassey Eyo.

“Accordingly, I have ordered the immediate suspension of the compromised recruitment process, pending a transparent and merit-driven review. A special committee will be set up to investigate the matter, identify those responsible, and recommend appropriate disciplinary actions.

“This administration will not tolerate corruption or any act capable of undermining public trust. No individual, no matter their position, will be allowed to stain the integrity of our government.”

The government panel carried out a rigorous review of the recruitment process and formally submitted its report to the state government. Although details of the report were not made public, but the statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Anthony Owan Enoh, sealed the fate of the embattled local government workers.

The government in the statement ordered a cancellation of the exercise which it described as as “fundamentally flawed” and riddled with job racketeering and commercialisation of employment slots.

Owan-Enoh, who said it followed the submission and consideration of a panel of enquiry report set up to investigate the recruitment exercise conducted by the defunct Local Government Commission, noted that the panel found that the exercise lacked executive approval by the governor and breached public service ethics, extant laws and financial regulations, alongside “institutional complicity, ineptitude, lack of transparency, and accountability in the process.”

The government subsequently approved the recruitment of 4,000 fresh workers into local government service, following the cancellation of the controversial 2024/2025.

Giving more details of the government review, Owan-Enoh said: “The entire exercise has been invalidated, except for 83 CROSIEC personnel earlier employed by the Cross River Civil Service Commission and redesignated to the Local Government Service Commission.

“Only 821 personnel whose recruitment was duly approved by the governor would be retained on the government payroll. All other persons who entered the payroll through unauthorised or illegal recruitment processes are hereby phased out.”

The government not only terminated the recruitment process of the affected workers but also offered to pay them off and offer them the opportunity to reapply in a fresh recruitment exercise which will cover a fresh 4,000 workers.

New Chairman of the Civil Local Government Service Commission (LGSC), Eyo Ekpo, disclosed that victims of what he termed a “criminal enterprise” were eligible to apply on a new recruitment portal opening in two to three weeks.

“Workers affected by the cancellation of the recent local government recruitment exercise will be allowed to reapply once new recruitment portals open within the next two to three weeks.

“Nothing precludes those who have been laid off by this unfortunate but very, very necessary decision from reapplying. The issue of what will be seen as compensatory is still being worked out,” he stated.

Eyo Ekpo assured qualified indigenes and other eligible applicants of a fair chance under the revised process. He added that the fresh exercise would deploy digital platforms and modern recruitment procedures to objectively determine staffing needs, ensuring employment was based strictly on established requirements.

The government also directed the Attorney-General of the state and relevant law enforcement agencies to investigate the circumstances surrounding the recruitment exercise and prosecute persons found culpable.

While expressing sympathy for citizens who may have fallen victim to the scheme, government maintained it could not legitimise the irregular process.

“Government cannot assume responsibility for appointments that were never authorized, approved or issued through lawful recruitment process, to do otherwise would amount to legitimizing fraud, compromising due process and undermining the integrity of the public service.”

The government urged affected persons to remain calm and take advantage of the new recruitment window, reiterating its commitment to building “a professional, transparent, efficient, and people-centred public service.”

The cancellation marks one of the biggest payroll purges in Cross River’s recent history. With 821 workers retained and 4,000 fresh positions to be advertised, the state government says it is determined to sanitize the local government system.

The Attorney-General has been directed to prosecute those found culpable, while a new digital recruitment process is expected to close loopholes that make racketeering possible.

The government’s message is clear: no appointment outside due process will stand. For the affected workers, the next few weeks, when the new portal opens, will determine if they get a second chance.

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