Metro

Sacked Cross River civil servants vow to occupy state secretariat indefinitely

Published

4 years ago

September 22, 2020

The 2,500 civil servants who were delisted from the Cross River State government’s payroll on Tuesday vowed to occupy the new state secretariat until they are reinstated.

The protesting workers, whose protest entered day two on Tuesday, blocked all the gates leading to the secretariat and vowed to bring mats and cooking utensils to enable them to occupy the secretariat indefinitely.

The Chairman of the Niger Delta Activist Forum, Cross River State chapter, Paul Ajie, who spoke on behalf of the protesting workers, said: “We are here in solidarity with over 2,500 Cross River State civil servants that were delisted from the payroll.

“They have made several efforts to get their names reinstated into the payroll which fell on deaf ears. The only option is to engage in a peaceful protest. We will sustain it as long as it will take the government to reinstate them.

“Government has not reacted. It shows that it is a deliberate action. We gave a one-week ultimatum which expired yesterday (Monday). The protest is indefinite. It will end the day the workers will get alert.

“Tomorrow we will set our pots here because now we are buying food. It will be more economical to cook here. We will bring our mats here. Yesterday we closed too early, at about 1:00 p.m., and we were told that some senior civil servants came and did some assignments.

“We are open for discussions. When they are ready and sincere, not that type that has lasted for 13 months.”

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