Cross River local government workers demand unpaid salaries
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Daily Post
Thousands of local government workers in Cross River State protested in Calabar to demand months of unpaid salaries. They reject the announcement by the government of Governor Bassey Otu that it has reinstated 3,000 of them, calling it a "hoax", according to Daily Post Nigeria.
Thousands of local government workers in Cross River State, Nigeria, protested on Tuesday outside the Federal Secretariat in Calabar. They reject the state government’s announcement that 3,000 of them have been reinstated, which they describe as a "huge hoax". They are demanding payment of their salary arrears.
The protesters say they continued working for months, without pay, in local departments, health centres and revenue units. They also visited the Local Government Service Commission.
Their protest responds to a statement by Governor Bassey Otu, made through his Chief Press Secretary Linus Obogo, announcing the reinstatement of 3,000 workers on the payroll. Their spokesman, Julius Uchi, says none of them has been reinstated. Recruited in 2025 and posted to the Youth and Sports Department of Obudu local council, he says he learned the news through social media, with no official publication listing the workers concerned.
According to Mr Uchi, the workers were recruited, screened and validated by their local councils and the Commission, then enumerated by the Auditor General before their deployment. He says nobody got their job through the back door or paid for it. He recalls that a commission and an investigative committee were set up after earlier protests, before the government published a notice cancelling the recruitment.
The protesters were received by the Federal Commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission for Cross River, Dr Owa Egbara.
