Cross River Govt explains decision to lock out civil servants at Governor’s Office

September 16, 2022 2 min read

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[From ANIEKAN ANIEKAN, Calabar]

Cross River Government has explained its decision to lock out some civil servants at the Governor’s Office in Calabar.

The response follows reports that about 80 civil servants were locked out for lateness for workon Wednesday morning.

Speaking on this, the Cross River State Head of Service (HoS), Timothy Akwaji said Thursday, the decision to discipline the workers is as a result of lateness to work.

He said: “His (Prof. Ben Ayade) team arrived at the Governor’s Office yesterday (Wednesday) and took note of workers that were not in duty.

“Today, the team came back and some workers still came late to work despite the presence of his team yesterday and hence the decision to shut them out”, he said.

He explained that administrative measures will be taken against the late coming workers.

Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State’s locked out some staff, including some employees of Government House in Calabar, for arriving late to work.

Ayade was reported to have entered the office at 7:58 a.m., and the opening of a register. Thereafter, he directed the top security officer to close the gate at 8:30 a.m. against any late-coming worker.

Those locked out include all levels of workers, including top-ranking officers of the state civil service as well as political appointees. Christian Ita, the governor’s spokesperson, claimed on Tuesday that Ayade had consistently emphasized his displeasure for lateness; and that he had recognized people who are devoted to their jobs.

In addition, he said if the governor can show up at the office as early as 8 am, the workers in the government house should not have an excuse for coming late.

“The normal resumption time is 8am…If a governor can be in office at that time, why can’t others be around? Moreover, the governor has always shown reward and sanction to workers; he doesn’t hesitate to sanction when you err and also reward you when you are committed to duty,” he said.