Cross River lifts 25-year employment embargo, to recruit 2,000 people

Bassey Otu, governor of Cross River, has lifted a 25-year embargo on employment into the state civil service.

Erasmus Ekpang, commissioner for information, spoke in an interview with NAN in Calabar.

He said the last time mass recruitment took place in the state’s civil service was in 1999, adding that 2,000 people will be recruited during the first phase.

He said the recruitment, which will be done across all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), was with immediate effect.

“The immediate past administration actually tried to employ but when the present government came in, lots of flaws were discovered in that exercise,” he said.

“As we speak, the state civil service is almost depleted and we are indeed happy that the governor has considered it necessary to recruit at this point in time.”

The commissioner said the issue of the N70,000 minimum wage “will be considered at the appropriate time”.

Otu commended residents of the state for not participating in the nationwide “hunger protest” which started on August 1.