Opinion: Appointment of Rep in FCSC, Obono-Obla, Others make case for C'RIVER.

By Inyali PETER

In the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), one Federal Commissioner represents  Cross River  and Akwa Ibom States. The appointment, which is a five-year tenure, usually rotates between the two states.

However, in the last two appointments, something unusual happened. The current Commissioner, a native of Akwa Ibom State whose second tenure expires next month, finished his first term in 2018 and instead of allowing Cross River to take its slots, played a fast one on the state and got a reappointment.

This happened even when President Muhammadu Buhari placed a lot of Cross Riverians in very critical positions in the national. Instead of the past administration to collaborate with leaders from the state at the federal to ensure we had our due, our leaders were busy fighting themselves until we lost out.

Fortunately, we've a great opportunity to correct this wrong now.Let me join Chief Okoi Obono-obla ,  who has been creating serious awareness around this issue to call on our governor, Sen. Bassey Otu, our ministers of Sports Development and Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation, Sen. John Owan Enoh ,Dr. Betta Edu respectively and  National Assembly members of Cross River extraction to do everything within their powers to ensure that the position returns to Cross River State this time around.

Some of our leaders who are very influential in this President Tinubu's administration  should discuss with the governor , Senator Otu to agree on a name that they can all push to be appointed. If our leaders go to Abuja to work at cross purposes, there'll open the room for the powerful Senate President who hails from Akwa Ibom to have his way to snatching the position again.

The gains of having such an office from the state can not be overemphasized. Cross River is currently one of the most disadvantaged states in terms of the  number of people in the federal civil service. This should be corrected by giving the state a federal commissioner in the civil service that'll always protect the interests of the Cross River state during recruitment. 

We  call on our national assembly members to consider sponsoring a bill that'll make it mandatory for the rotation of this position between states that are merged to have one federal commissioner.There should be legislation stopping the dominance of one state over another.

As a state, we must not let this slide! Let's go all out and get it. 

Inyali Peter, Ph.D