There is palpable anxiety and grumbling among many aides of the Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, as many of them are yet to be paid their salaries for the month of August, 2021.
While the payment of salaries has since shifted from the end of every month to the end of the first week of every new month, (since the commencement of his second tenure), on Monday, September 6, 2021, salaries for the month of August were paid but many aides and some civil servants were not paid.
“One of my friends called me on Tuesday 7th September to ask if I had received salary alert and I said no. He then intimated me that salaries had been paid to those who get theirs via First Bank and Polaris Bank but other banks were not captured ” on Special Assistant, on condition of anonymity, said.
He further narrated that many of those who get paid their salaries through banks like Zenith, Access and Ecobanks, have been waiting endlessly for their August salaries and do not know how much longer they will wait.
“We are told salaries are paid from internally generated revenue, IGR, and as the money comes they pay, but time is running out. Experience shows that His Excellency does not authorise the payment of arrears so if by 15th of the month when the voucher for the month of September is produced it then means we won’t be paid”, another aide stated.
She confided in us that there is a rumour in town that there is a granishe court order on the salary account but was not specific with this information. “Nobody is telling us anything about the non-payment but for the one week shift in school resumption we would have been in trouble looking for money to pay school fees, she added. Commissioners, special advisers, as well as personal assistants are presently bearing this burden.