About 2,500 workers who were sacked by the Cross River State Government, Monday, barricaded and blocked access to the state secretariat over what they termed “unfair and illegal delisting from the state payroll.”
The protesters who carried placards with descriptions including; ‘we shall protest till the end’, ‘Head of Service should be sacked’’, ‘Ayade you betrayed us’, said they were tired of not hearing from the government and that the state labor union is complicit in their plights.
Speaking, Comrade Paul Ajie Abang who led the protesters said that they had initially given the state government a seven-day ultimatum to take action or face a massive protest and that it was their silence that has led to the peaceful protest.
Abang held that the group had met with the Head of Service and all other relevant stakeholders to iron out the matter but it seems the government is insincere and doesn’t want to act, and that the group will not back down till the right thing is done.
One of the protesters who identified himself as ‘Papa’ said the protesters were part of the 2500 workers from the state who were employed and then delisted from the state’s payroll.
“We are the 2500 staff of the state government who were duly employed, got their appointment letter, and then delisted from the payroll by the government.
“We are taking this struggle upon ourselves because labor has failed us. We are out here fighting for our rights and we have no plan of leaving here until our voices are heard.”
He further added that “we are here to let the world know of the injustice being meted to us. for a year and one month now we have not received our salaries and the government is tossing us around.” He said.
As at the time of filing this report the protesters were still blockading the state secretariat, with nobody going in and coming out.
I didn’t see your letter giving us a 7-day ultimatum. All I saw was a press release, and It was on social media that I saw it. So there was no letter giving the government an ultimatum.
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