By: Adie Ukongikwen, Calabar
The Deputy governor of Cross River State, Rt. Hon. Peter Odey, has said that government is committed to the welfare of workers in the state.
This is by ensuring the prompt payment of salaries to all civil servants and payment of gratuities to pensioners in the Cross River Civil Service.
Odey who re-echoed the “People First” mantra of His Excellency Sen. Prince Bassey Otu, said that the governor cannot withhold the salaries of the people he puts first.
He gave this assurance while briefing newsmen in his office.
He also made it clear that the delay in salary payment for some civil servants was not a ‘non- payment of salaries: as some people claimed, but rather a verification exercise which is ongoing to check the constant expansion of the payroll despite the fact that people retire every day.
He said that from the findings, pensioners who have died still have relatives collecting their salaries as well as highlighted cases of duplication of names of civil servants in more than one local government area and so on.
The Deputy governor said by next week, the verification exercise would have been completed and all workers would be paid in full.
“I want to seize this opportunity to appeal to labour to be patient as this exercise is in the best interest of the workers and the State since it will ensure that the records are kept straight and the right thing is done, he added.”
