While civil servants in many States across Nigeria are protesting the non-payment of salaries for many months, the story in Cross River is the opposite.
Civil servants in the state on Friday condemned the decision of the state governor, Ben Ayade, to pay their December salary on the first day of the month, Punch has reported.
Some civil servants had on December 1 received salary alert for the month of December, as against the usual 25th of every month.
It would be the second time that workers would be receiving salaries on the first day of the month as they had in May 2016 gotten a similar treatment from the governor in commemoration of the Workers’ Day celebration.
The aggrieved workers said the decision to pay their salaries in advance would later cause untold hardship as the Yuletide approaches.
A top civil servant in the Ministry of Environment, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “The state government’s decision to pay December salaries of some civil servants within the first three days of the month will make us suffer in due course.
“The government should have employed caution by delaying December salary payments to a later date. Our governor may want to score a political point with this payment, but I think that those of us receiving this money stand to lose fiscally when January comes.”
But one of the governor’s aides, who pleaded anonymity, said the workers should applaud the governor instead of complaining.
The source said, “People are so impossible to please. There are states in this country where salaries are not paid as and when due, but in Cross River State, our governor pays salaries and even pays ahead to cater for special occasions like the Workers’ Day and this Yuletide.
“Instead of applauding him, some people say he shouldn’t have paid. Nigerians are difficult to please.”
