CROSS RIVER: Protest as Science Teachers Removed From Payroll

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About 500 Science Teachers in Cross River State were seen protesting the decision of the State Government to remove their name from the payroll.

The protesters who blocked the Governor’s office yesterday November 11, lamented the refusal of the governor to pay their salaries for two months, September and October consecutively with no disclosed reason.

The teachers had also initially protested on November 5, blocking the gate to the Governor’s office, restricting movements of staff and guest going in or out of the premises.

Vanguard, a newspaper publication firm in Nigeria, gathered from the spokesperson of the teachers, Mr Kenneth Bisong that they (teachers) are unable to comprehend the reasons for the removal of their names from the payroll.

“We are among the best brains as far as science teaching is concerned in Cross River State. Our recruitment in 2015 was done by Educom, an Indian firm with a proven track record of standard and excellence.

“Initially, we didn’t know that something has happened until our colleagues stared getting paid and our people were not. We went to relevant offices to find out what happened. We discovered that our names had been removed from the payroll by the state government.

“Our names were removed from the payroll in September, we started work since 2015, but we were paroled in January 2016. We are about 500 teachers affected and it could be more.

“Government didn’t follow the service rules, we don’t know what the government wants to achieve by removing our names from the payroll and treating us unjustly.

“We are the live-wire of secondary schools, we are the soul of our younger ones, tomorrow’s leaders. Does the government intend to engage quacks? All we want is the payment of our September and October salary arrears.”

It was also gathered from the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to Governor Ayade, Mr Christian Ita who disclosed that the removal was merely an audit by the government as no one had been sacked.

“Nobody has been sacked, it is just an audit. A lot of people who joined the civil service in 2015 did so through the back door. There is no cause for alarm, no one has been sacked.

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“The governor is doing a cleansing of the state payroll in other to delete ghost workers.  Nobody has sacked them. Government has realised that because approval was given for employment in some areas, the people in charge resorted to over employment.

“In some cases, over 200 persons were approved for employment, the people saddled with the responsibility recruited 700 staff. So, nobody has been sacked.

“Those whose employment are genuine have been given letters for re-validation of their employment. This means that those that were genuinely employed are to be restored back to the payroll,” Ita said.

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