Barely 24 hours after teachers, lawyers and some workers of Cross River State Government agencies staged a protest March disrupting activities at the State governor’s office over unpaid salaries, another protest has been recorded.
The protest on the second day to the governor’s office on Wednesday was carried out by College of Health Technology workers under the platforms of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnic and Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic.
They are also protesting unpaid salaries by the state government and had matched to the State House of Assembly before landing at the governor’s office.
Speaking at the front of the governor’s office, the College of Health Technology branch Chairman of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnic, Emmanuel Enegieor, said, “In the month of September our staff were dropped from the payroll without any form of notification.”
“They only woke up and discovered that their colleagues got salaries and they did not get. And when we demanded, a comrade who is also supposed to be one of us, notified that he was appointed as Senior Special Assistant on payroll and that the governor asked him to drop all the salaries of people from the year 2015 to date.”
He continued, “we said we were not comfortable, they said it will not take any time, that they need to quickly do revalidation as directed by his Excellency the governor. And the whole month of October came. And salaries were paid. And these people again were not paid. We are saying that their children are still at home, they cannot go back to school.”
Comrade Enegieor said “The governor had promised that he will not allow any Cross Riverian go to sleep without food on his table. And for four years he kept to his promise. And so we don’t believe this is coming from him. And we are saying that in case it is coming from him, your Excellency please recall them. While you are doing the cleaning of the payroll, recall the people who are sincere and send the ghost workers packing. But for people who are not ghosts which our members are not, please pay them their salaries because it is beginning to bring too much hardship on the system.”
He demanded that the SSA on payroll should revert to the salary structure approved since 2013 for its members, adding that College of Health Technology deserved a better treatment.
The governor has been outside the country and the protesters were attended to by the Secretary in charge of Special Duties and Security Adviser in the Governor’s office, Sir Alfred Mboto.
He told the protesting workers at the governor’s office that “issues happen because there is a breach in communication. Let me assure all of us here that there is no one here that is retrenched or dismissed. I can assure you that this message you have passed I will deliver it to him. I wish the governor was here.”
