Public health, local government workers lament unpaid salary arrears

Less than 48 hours to Christmas, thousands of public health and local government workers in Cross River state are still being owed over four months’ salaries. Investigations conducted by our correspondent in Calabar revealed that some workers were owed salaries ranging from August – December 2016. 

Our findings also revealed that the state government has paid her workers up to December while those of public health and local government remain unpaid. No reason was given for the non-payment of these group of government workers. Recently, the state governor, Prof Ben Ayade, dissolved the local government councils, and sacked the chairmen and councilors as their tenure expired.

He directed them to hand over to directors of administration. However, the salaries were owed before the tenure of the out gone chairmen expired. Mrs. Affiong Emmanuel Bassey, a worker in one of the local government councils, told our correspondent that she and some of her colleagues are owed four months salaries.

“I wonder how we are going to survive, our children are asking us for clothes and shoes, we have no money to buy anything for them, we don’t know what we are going to eat during this Christmas. It is as bad as that. Please, plead with Governor Ayade to look into our problem now that he had paid state government workers up till December.”

When our reporter visited the office of the Ministry of Local Government Affairs, the Commissioner, Hon. Onoh Ulafor was not in the office and his aides declined to comment on the issue.