Cross River State Head of Service, Dr Innocent Eteng, has announced that only nine Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) will receive payments by the end of March.
According to him, this is because they were the only ones who complied with the directive that all MDAs must submit a list of staff as an integral part of ridding the state civil service of fake workers and reduce the inflated monthly salary.
“In Cross River State, we have a tripod arrangement where before salaries are paid, we have to send an update to the office of the Auditor General, the office of the Auditor General will audit and then send to the Accountant General for payment, including promotion implementation.
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“In line with the state governor’s directive to nip in the bud the controversy and streamline the wage bill, my office issued a directive to the 31 MDAs to submit their Nominal rolls for reconciliation.
“So far, only nine MDAs have complied and we have reconciled their names. Only workers in these nine MDAs who we can attest to will receive their salaries for the month of March 2024. The rest 22 that have refused to comply will not be paid.
“We approach the presentation of the nominal roll directive in a very strict way. Civil servants should hold their Permanent Secretaries responsible for non-payment of salaries and not the state government,” he said..
He commended the Governor for appointing an experienced financial expert in Mrs. Glory Effiong, noting that since taking office, she has taken very drastic steps to clean up the payroll.
“We have a responsibility to help the state to ensure that those who are not in the nominal role of government should not be paid salaries. We are going to use those nominal rolls from MDAs compared to the state’s central payroll, so those Permanent Secretaries in MDAs must help the government if they don’t have anything they’re hiding.
“We also encourage whistleblowing. If you have any information of infractions in the payroll or people who are collecting money here and there, feel free to go to the office of the Accountant General if you’re afraid to come to my office and you’ll be rewarded as far as we confirm that it is a fact, he said.
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