By Ike Uchechukwu, Calabar
The Cross River State Government has defended its ongoing payroll sanitisation exercise, dismissing Wednesday’s protest by persons claiming to be unpaid local government workers as an attempt to pressure the government into recognising appointments that did not follow due process.
The Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Chief Victor Felix Idem, said the protesters were not legitimate employees of the Local Government Service but individuals whose names were introduced into the payroll outside approved recruitment procedures.
Idem, in a statement on Thursday, said the government had approved the recruitment of about 500 personnel into the Local Government Service, but alleged that the process was manipulated, resulting in the inclusion of thousands of unauthorised names.
“The facts are very clear. Government approved the recruitment of about 500 personnel into the Local Government Service.
