Some aggrieved civil servants in Cross River have threatened to picket the office of the state’s accountant-general over alleged unpaid salaries.

Some of the workers told journalists on Friday in Calabar, the state capital, that they last received salaries in December 2025.

One of them, Moses Effiong, said that several complaints made to the office of the accountant-general on the matter had not yielded results.

He said the affected workers had concluded plans to picket the accountant-general’s office to protest the non-payment of salaries.

Dorcas Obi, also a state government employee, said the accountant-general had refused to be honest on the matter despite several complaints.

“The accountant-general keeps shifting blame, saying that permanent secretaries have not submitted nominal rolls of workers in their ministries, but this is not true.

“We have approached the permanent secretaries; the message we get is that nominal rolls have been submitted.

“We have a situation that looks like the state government is handpicking people, as we speak. In my ministry, some people have been paid while others have not,” Ms Obi said.

Another worker, Clement Abang, said the situation had left many workers and their families in hunger and pain.

He urged the state government to promptly pay salaries so the affected workers could fulfil their responsibilities.

Speaking earlier in an interview, the accountant-general, Glory Effiong, confirmed that some workers had yet to receive their January salaries and blamed the permanent secretaries for failing to submit updated nominal rolls.

Ms Effiong said that no fewer than 14,000 of about 15,000 affected workers had been paid, saying, “We process salaries upon receipt of verified nominal rolls.”

“This measure is necessary to address absenteeism and to ensure that only workers who report to duty receive salaries,” she added. 

(NAN)