CROSS RIVER: Rice farmers protest non payment of salaries

About 300 youths engaged by the Cross River State government as rice farmers have protested the non payment of their three months salaries.

The youths, who protested at the state Ministry of Agriculture on Monday in Calabar said they worked at the state rice farm and they could no longer continue working everyday without being paid at the end of the month.

One of the workers, who spoke to journalists at the protest, said they have started harvesting the rice, which they planted three months ago, yet they have not been paid their salaries.

The worker said: “We are some of the people who worked in the Cross River State rice farm at the time. We resumed on May 4, this year.

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“We worked and they paid us salaries on the 6th of June. But they did not pay everybody because they left that day when the governor personally came to the farm to pay.

“The next day, we resumed work and the farm manager said they gave him information that we should go and rest for two weeks and we will receive a call to come back.

“After three weeks, about 50 of us got text messages to come back and since that July till now, we have not been paid even though we are almost through with the harvest of the rice.”

Though officials of the ministry did not address the protesting workers, they (workers) vowed to continue the protest until their salaries were paid.

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