By Ushang Ewa
The entrance to the Government House in Calabar, the Cross River State capital is currently inaccessible as retirees have blocked access into the office premises.
They are protesting over unpaid gratuities and pensions.
Security operatives are unsure of what to do as Governor Ben Ayade and his Plateau State counterpart, Simon Lalong are said to be in the House of Assembly for the valedictory session for a former Speaker of the Assembly, Mike Ogar.
The organised labor in the State has been on an indefinite strike for weeks over the same issue among others. Other include implementation of promotions, minimum wage, incremental rates among others.
And, in its strike Bulletin 15, labor queried the application of the two tranches of bailout funds and Paris Club refunds by the State.
The monies, totaling over NGN30 billion was meant to aid the payment of salaries, pensions and gratuities.
But, according to labor, the State owes nearly NGN50 billion in unpaid gratuities alone dating far back to 1999 for local government retirees and 2014 for state retirees.
The current administration led by Benedict Ayade is said to be responsible for the unpaid gratuities to more than 70 percent of the local government retirees and more than 80 percent of the state retirees.
Several negotiations have stalled with threats from the State falling on deaf ears.
More details later…