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The Cross River State Government has nullified the controversial 2024/2025 local government recruitment exercise, describing it as “fundamentally flawed” and riddled with job racketeering and commercialisation of employment slots.
In a decisive move, the government has also directed the Attorney-General and relevant law enforcement agencies to investigate the circumstances surrounding the exercise and prosecute persons found culpable.
The decision was announced in a statement issued by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Anthony Owan-Enoh, following the submission and consideration of a Panel of Enquiry report set up to investigate the recruitment conducted by the defunct Local Government Commission.
According to the statement, the panel found that the exercise lacked executive approval by Governor Bassey Edet Otu and breached public service ethics, extant laws and financial regulations.
The report cited “institutional complicity, ineptitude, lack of transparency, and accountability in the process.”
Consequently, the entire exercise has been invalidated. Only 821 personnel whose recruitment was duly approved by the governor will be retained on the government payroll.
The statement added that “all other persons who entered the payroll through unauthorised or illegal recruitment processes are hereby phased out.”
The government, however, exempted 83 CROSIEC personnel earlier employed by the Cross River Civil Service Commission and redesignated to the Local Government Service Commission.
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Speaking on a radio programme in Calabar, Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission (LGSC), Eyo Ekpo Esq., described the cancelled exercise as a “criminal enterprise.”
He disclosed that a fresh recruitment portal would open in two to three weeks to employ 4,000 new workers into local government service.
“Workers affected by the cancellation of the recent local government recruitment exercise will be allowed to reapply once new recruitment portals open within the next two to three weeks. Nothing precludes those who have been laid off by this unfortunate but very, very necessary decision from reapplying,” he said.
Ekpo said the new exercise would deploy digital platforms and modern recruitment procedures to objectively determine staffing needs and ensure employment was based strictly on established requirements.
The government clarified that legitimate employees who were lawfully recruited with due approval had continued receiving their salaries uninterrupted.
It expressed sympathy for citizens who may have fallen victim to the scheme but insisted it could not legitimise the irregular process.
The government reiterated its commitment to building “a professional, transparent, efficient, and people-centred public service” and urged affected persons to remain calm and take advantage of the new recruitment window.
