By Frank Ulom
The Government of Cross River State has warned those involved in illegal practices, especially giving and taking bribes at the ongoing staff promotion, to desist from it or face the wrath of the law.
The warning was conveyed through a public service announcement signed by Dr Innocent Eteng, Head of Service, HoS, on Tuesday, 23 Jan. 2024.
“The attention of the Head of Service, Cross River State, has been drawn with dismay to a preposterous publication on Social Media titled, ‘Red Alert’ on the ongoing promotion exercise in the state alleging corrupt act by an unnamed ‘Director’ in the Civil Service Commission.
“The Cross River State Government dissociates itself from any such untoward practice and warns all those in its employ, their relatives and agents to desist forthwith from paying money or gratification to any Government official for promotion purposes.
“It is important and instructive to state categorically that, any promotion that does not follow due process and recommendation from the MDA or/and Senior Staff Management Committee (SSMC) of the relevant MDA and duly authenticated by the Chairman, Civil Service Commission as well as meets the required maturity period for promotion in accordance with the Public Service Rules and extant Government Circulars will be rejected by the office of the Head of Service.
“All Civil/Public Servants are enjoined to note and be guided accordingly.
“This is for strict and immediate compliance, please,” the public service announcement read.
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CONVERSEER learned that Civil Servants are compelled to allegedly pay the sum of N20,000 to a certain director before they can take part in the ongoing promotion exercise.
According to Iwara Iwara, a journalist and radio host, in a Facebook post: “As you read this, there’s an ongoing staff promotion exercise in Cross River State, conducted by the CRS Civil Service Commission.
“Sadly, the civil servants taking part in this exercise are compelled to present an envelope of N20k to a certain Director (we won’t name now) before they are attended to.
“At yesterday’s (Monday, January 22, 2024) exercise, most of the civil servants who couldn’t part with the N20k envelope, individually, were not attended to. They are not allowed to attend the exercise without this money.
“Have we again set foot on that treacherously wrong path we trod on for eight blinding years?”
