OPINION: UNPAID LG SALARIES : MATTERS ARISING FOR GOV OTU

By Comrade Joseph Bassey 

How does a person go to bed at night knowing that the very people working for the government he superintendents over are literally starving because they have not seen a paycheck in nearly a year? This is not just some dramatic line for a column. It is a serious question and it really should weigh on anyone in public office especially the man at the very top of the ladder.

For almost eleven months now, people hired into the Cross River State Local Government administration have been living under this impossible weight of unpaid wages. Think about that for a second. They get up every single day, get dressed for work, show up at their desks and do what they are told to do. Then the month ends and there is just nothing. Not a dime. 

I am not sure why any government thinks it can just let this happen for almost a whole year. It has been eleven months. At some point, you have to wonder what the people in charge are actually thinking when their own staff cannot even afford to eat.

For their families, eleven months without pay? That is a whole different level of struggle. The demands of life does not pause because the kids would still need to eat and go to school, rent is due, electricity bills keep coming, medical issues do not disappear and debts just keep piling up. This is not just an administrative hiccup but a human crisis.

We are hearing that these workers have been waiting for almost eleven months just to get fully documented and put on the payroll. Eleven months of uncertainty not knowing when their employer will actually pay them. That is not a small delay. That is almost an entire year in the life of someone.

So, the simple question is how long does it take to get a worker documented and captured in the payroll? Verifying an appointment, checking qualifications, confirming identity and finishing the paperwork surely should not take eleven months. If it does, then Cross River State under the watch of Governor Bassey Otu has a serious administrative lacuna on its hands which affects far more than just these waiting workers.

No one is against verification. The government absolutely has the right and the duty to keep public payrolls clean from ghost workers, fake appointments and questionable hires. But verification should be a straightforward process with a clear start and end. It should not become a never ending punishment for legitimate employees.

If there were irregularities in the hiring process, identify them. If some workers did not meet the criteria, say so. If there were abuses during recruitment, investigate and hold those responsible accountable. But for a worker who is genuine, qualified and has been showing up for duty, why should they continue to suffer because the government has not finished its own paperwork? This is where it starts looking less like a simple documentation issue and more like a failure in planning and administrative capability.

The government decided to hire around 4,000 people for the local government system which makes sense because the workforce was depleted and needed bolstering. But hiring should not just be about sending out appointment letters. Before the first person was hired, someone should have calculated the monthly salary bill, secured the funding, set up the payroll structure and figured out how everyone would be processed. Was that done? If it was, why are we still waiting?

If it was not, why were these people employed in the first place? These are not unreasonable questions. They are fundamental to how public administration should work. And given the financial situation of Cross River State, these questions are becoming even more critical.

According to FAAC tracking data, Cross River State has received about ₦130.99 billion in net federal allocations over an eleven month period, averaging roughly about ₦11.91 billion each month. The highest monthly figure was around ₦13.20 billion in September 2025 and the lowest was about ₦10.18 billion in February 2026. Now, it is important to mention that this fund is not just for salaries alone. The State has significant responsibilities for infrastructure, healthcare, education, security, pensions and debt payments. Still, these are substantial inflows and they raise the question of whether the financial planning is keeping up with its obligations.

The Local Government situation is also significant. The 18 Local Government Areas have collectively received an estimated ₦80 billion to ₦90 billion over the past year, averaging around ₦6.8 billion to ₦8.2 billion monthly across all Councils. Some Councils like Akpabuyo get quite a bit more each month which averages about ₦467.88 million, Boki around ₦430.12 million and Akamkpa roughly ₦418.64 million. Again, these funds are not solely for salaries as Local Governments too have their own duties. But these figures are substantial enough to make the plight of unpaid workers a very uncomfortable issue for the government.

Why is someone hired into the Local Government system going eleven months without pay when significant funds are flowing into that same system? What is truly causing the delay? Is it a lack of money? Poor planning? Verification issues? Payroll problems? Or a mix of everything? Whatever the reason, eleven months is incredibly difficult to justify.

Governor Otu might not personally handle every employment file or key names into the payroll system but that is not how Executive leadership is measured. Governors are not expected to do every administrative task themselves but they are expected to ensure the government machinery runs smoothly. If it is not working, the Governor needs to fix it. If an official is causing the delay, the Governor must demand an explanation. If a department is overloaded, the Governor must provide more resources. If a process is too complicated, the Governor must simplify it. If a Committee is dragging its feet, the Governor must set a deadline. That is leadership.

It is not enough for an administration to simply say "verification is ongoing" while workers suffer month after month. At some point, the question needs to shift from "Why has the verification not been completed?" to "Why has the government allowed verification to take this long?" That distinction is crucial. The burden of an inefficient system should not continuously fall on the people experiencing its negative effects. The workers did not create the hiring process, design the payroll system, set the verification procedures or decide how long it should take. Yet, they are the ones bearing the financial brunt of the delay. That is hardly fair.

Perhaps the best way to understand their situation is to flip the scenario. Imagine if the Governor himself was due a monthly payment and it suddenly stopped. Imagine continuing to perform his duties for eleven months while being told his payment was delayed because his documentation was still being verified.

 Would eleven months seem like a reasonable waiting period then? Would he tell himself to stay patient while rent, school fees, food, medical bills and other expenses piled up? Could his family maintain their normal lifestyle without eleven months of his income? Most importantly, would he accept the explanation that the government was "still working on it"? The answer is pretty obvious.

For someone at the lower end of the income scale, a salary is not just an accounting entry. It is about survival. That is why an eleven month salary delay can never be treated as a minor administrative inconvenience. It is a direct blow to the financial stability of the affected families.

And this is where the government needs to grasp the difference between a file and a human being. On a government desk, it might be a file waiting for verification. For the worker, it is eleven months of overdue rent. It is a child whose school fees have not been paid. It is buying food on credit. It is borrowing money from relatives who are also struggling. It is postponing necessary medical treatment. It is the humiliation of going to work daily without knowing when the government will finally fulfil its obligation.

That is why the protests by these workers should not be dismissed as the Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, Barrister Eyo Nsa Ekpo is trying to do. When government employees are forced into the streets after months without pay, it should be a major red flag for the administration and a signal on the need for urgent action at the highest level.

Nobody expects Governor Otu to personally sit in the payroll office and process thousands of names. But Cross Riverians who voted for him should expect him to ask the responsible officials one simple question: "Why are these people still not on the payroll?" And after asking, he should demand an answer. Then, a solution. And finally, a deadline. 

The Governor has had ample time to hear explanations. The workers have had more than enough time to wait. Eleven months should be more than sufficient for the administration to know who is genuine and who is not, what went wrong and what needs to be done. If the workers are legitimate, put them on the payroll. If some are not, remove them. If officials made mistakes, investigate them. If the recruitment process was flawed, fix it. But please, do not leave genuine workers adrift in administrative limbo for nearly a year.

There is also a bigger lesson for Cross River people here. Government employment should offer stability not uncertainty. A recruitment programme designed to strengthen the local government system should not leave thousands of people questioning the reality of their appointments because their salaries have not arrived. The whole point of bolstering the local government workforce is to improve services for ordinary citizens. But how can a worker worried about feeding their family be expected to stay fully motivated and provide quality public service?

The administration, therefore, has two key issues to address. It must resolve the immediate salary crisis and it must fix whatever systemic weaknesses allowed this crisis to happen in the first place. Otherwise, the same problem could easily resurface with the next recruitment drive.

This is why the issue deserves more than just a vague promise that "something is being done." The government should be transparent and provide a clear update about how many workers have been verified? How many are still pending? What exactly is causing the delay in payroll registration? When will the process be concluded? How much is owed in accumulated salaries? And when will those arrears be paid? These are straightforward questions and the public deserves straightforward answers.

There is nothing wrong with a government defending itself when criticised. But the strongest defense should not be another explanation but action. Pay the workers. Clear their accumulated salaries. Complete the documentation. Fix the payroll system. Then, investigate how this situation was allowed to persist for eleven months. That is what competent administration looks like.

Cross River has a government with significant responsibilities and access to substantial federal resources. It cannot afford to let an administrative problem of this magnitude become a perpetual burden on ordinary workers.

 The people are not asking for perfection. They are asking for basic competence. They are not asking the government to perform miracles. They are asking it to pay the employees it hired. The workers are not seeking for political favours. They are asking for what they have earned. And after almost eleven months, no one should tell them to be patient without clearly explaining exactly what they are waiting for.

Comrade Bassey writes from Ugep in Cross River State.