State government sacks 4000 workers
The Cross River State Government has cancelled the recruitment of more than 4,000 workers into the local government service after a review found serious irregularities in the exercise.
The decision followed months of complaints from newly recruited workers who said they had resumed work but were not placed on the state government payroll.
Many of the affected workers were recruited in 2025 and posted to various local government offices, health centres and other public institutions across the state.
Despite reporting for duty, several said they did not receive salaries for months.
The unpaid workers later began raising concerns over their employment status, with some staging protests in different parts of the state.
In July 2026, hundreds of the workers gathered in Calabar, the state capital, and marched to the Governor’s Office to demand payment of their outstanding salaries.
The protesters said they had worked for almost a year without receiving their wages. They also complained about the financial burden of travelling to their places of work without any income.
The controversy also led to allegations that some people had collected money from applicants in exchange for government positions.
The former chairman of the Cross River State Local Government Service Commission, Darlington Eyo, had earlier said more than 4,000 workers were recruited to fill vacancies across the local government system.
He also disclosed that a verification exercise had uncovered about 800 ghost workers who were subsequently removed from the payroll.
However, concerns over the recruitment process continued as many of the newly employed workers remained unpaid.
The situation eventually led to Eyo’s resignation after Governor Bassey Otu ordered a review of the recruitment exercise.
The state government later set up a panel to investigate the process and determine whether the recruitments were carried out in line with established rules.
Following the submission of the panel’s report, the government declared the recruitment exercise invalid, except for 83 CROSIEC personnel who had previously been employed through the Cross River Civil Service Commission and later moved to the Local Government Service Commission.
The government also said only 821 workers whose appointments had received proper approval from the governor would remain on the payroll.
All other persons who entered the payroll through unauthorised recruitment processes were ordered to leave the service.
The government said the cancelled recruitment exercise had breached public service rules and financial regulations and was affected by a lack of proper approval and transparency.
Rather than retain the disputed appointments, the state approved a fresh recruitment exercise for 4,000 positions in the local government service.
The new chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, Eyo Ekpo, said those affected by the cancellation would be allowed to apply again when the new recruitment portal opens.
He explained that the government was still working out arrangements concerning possible compensation for workers who had been affected by the cancellation.
The fresh recruitment exercise is expected to use digital platforms and updated procedures to assess the staffing needs of the local government system.
According to the government, the new process will be open to qualified applicants and will be based on established requirements.
The state government has also directed the Attorney-General and relevant security agencies to investigate the circumstances surrounding the cancelled recruitment exercise.
Those found responsible for any wrongdoing are expected to face prosecution.
The government said it could not recognise appointments that were not properly authorised or made through the approved recruitment process.
The cancellation has left thousands of workers facing uncertainty after months of working without salaries. However, the affected applicants are expected to have another opportunity when the new recruitment process begins.
The Cross River Government said the new exercise would be designed to improve transparency in the local government service and prevent irregular recruitment in the future.
