About 7000 Workers To Exit The Cross River State Civil Service Before The End Of 2023.

he gale of retirement started from 2022 when about 3500 civil servants retired from active service after putting in the mandatory 35 years of service.

The creation of Akwa Ibom state out of Cross River in 1987 by the General Ibrahim Babangida's military administration left a vacuum in the state civil service and those recruited to fill the vacuum are now due for retirement after 35 years of service.

The Head of Service, Mr. Timothy Ogbang Akwaji, who spoke to our correspondent on the issue, explained that following the void created by the exodus of Akwa Ibom state indigenes, the state bureaucracy was almost grinding to a halt, as more than 10,000 personnel had to be employed to fill the gap.

Mr. Akwaji pointed out that the 1987 scenario is almost playing out again and the state government is quite conscious of it as proactive measures are being put in place to forestall the service grinding to a halt. 

He announced that a number of strategic approaches are being employed to replace the large number of retirees exiting the service with the ongoing recruitment of about 5000 personnel to fill the gap, promotion of deserving civil servants and the lifting of embargo on employment into the civil service.

According to the Head of Service, it is not true that about 16,000 civil servants will disengage from the service this year, as only about 13,000 legitimate workers are in the employ of the state government and about 5000 more in the local government sector.

The Head of Service assured that after a careful review of the situation, there is no cause for alarm, as only the senior cadre is largely affected by the retirements, adding that as the engine room that drives government policies, efforts are in place to bring the matter under control.

A senior civil servant with the state civil service commission who did not want his name in print, hinted the Beagle News that except urgent steps are taken before the end of the year, the entire civil service would be empty as the last recruitment exercise was done back in 1987, and almost all those employed then are due for retirement.

On his part, the state chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Gregory Inah Olayi called for urgent steps to be taken by the state government on the matter to forestall the total collapse of the civil service and also vowed to pressurise the new administration to initiate employment strategies that would strengthen all sectors of the civil service.

On the recent extension of teachers’ retirement age by the federal government, the NLC boss commended the outgoing governor for taking steps to domicile the policy in the state with effect from 2023.