The Cross River Government has announced its intention to investigate the 213% rise in the state’s workforce, which skyrocketed from approximately 18,000 to a staggering 56,358 over an eight-year period.
Dr. Innocent Eteng, the state Head of Service, revealed this during a press conference in Calabar, stressing Governor Bassey Otu’s concerns regarding the escalating financial burden associated with the burgeoning payroll.
Eteng stated the imperative of scrutinizing the workforce’s composition, describing it as “currently bloated by several infractions” and attributing it to the mounting challenges in funding essential projects. With a breakdown indicating 14,328 staff in the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), 2,812 in the Primary Health Care Development Agency, and 22,526 pensioners in the State Civil Service, Eteng emphasized the need for a strategic cleanup of the payroll system.
Highlighting ongoing efforts to rectify discrepancies, Eteng mentioned the directive issued by Governor Otu for permanent secretaries to submit their nominal rolls for reconciliation. However, he lamented that only nine out of the 32 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) had complied with this directive so far, implying that more than half of the workforce might not receive their salaries in March.
