By CrossRiverWatch Admin
The Cross River State Government has threatened to withhold the salaries and other legal entitlement of staff in its ministry of justice if they fail to shelve their planned strike.
Some members of staff under the aegis of the Law Officers Association of Nigeria had met on Friday, June 29, 2018 and resolved to go on strike until the state begins implementing the harmonised salary scale.
NEWS FLASH: Law Officers in Cross River State to embark on indefinite strike on Monday, 2/7/2018 over non harmonisation of salary scale.
more details later on https://t.co/thScIKXkqS
— CrossRiverWatch (@crossriverwatch) June 29, 2018
The association is made up of lawyers in the state employ and they are supposed to earn the same rates as judicial officers in the magistrate cadre as approved by the state.
But, this is yet to happen and despite several official correspondence, no information about when it will be implemented was been put forward a member told CrossRiverWatch.
However, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Joe Oshi Abang who said the office of the Head of Service (HOS) is processing their demands also argued in a statement approved by him that LOAN lacks the standing to declare a strike even as he threatened to withhold their pay
“This issue is in the 2018 Budget and presently being handled by the HOS, Barrister Ekpenyong Henshaw and the Accountant General,” the chief prosecutor said.
Cross River Governor, Ben Ayade had on April 10, 2018 signed the 2018 appropriation bill into law and Mr. Abang’s statement shows that implementation of that budget may not have begun a finance expert told CrossRiverWatch.
Mr. Abang also said he has been informed by the Special Adviser on Labor affairs that “this group is not part of NLC and TUC and therefore cannot declare a strike against a Governor who has performed creditably well.”
He called on the public to ignore such calls and maintained that his office “will not hesitate to implement the ‘No work No pay policy’ of the Federal government should the need arise.”