The Cross River State Government has cancelled the 2024/2025 Local Government recruitment exercise after a Panel of Enquiry found the process fundamentally flawed and allegedly marred by job racketeering, commercialisation of employment slots and breaches of public service rules.
The cancellation was announced on Thursday in Calabar by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Anthony Owan-Enoh, in a statement issued after the government considered the report of a Panel of Enquiry set up to investigate the recruitment exercise conducted by the defunct Local Government Commission. The government said the exercise was conducted without the governor’s approval and breached public service ethics, extant laws and financial regulations.
According to the statement, the panel also established alleged institutional complicity, ineptitude, lack of transparency and accountability in the recruitment process.
The government said the entire recruitment exercise had therefore been invalidated and cancelled, except for 83 CROSIEC personnel who were initially employed by the Cross River Civil Service Commission and subsequently redesignated to the Local Government Service Commission.
It added that only 821 personnel whose recruitment was duly approved by the governor would be retained on the government payroll.
“All other persons who entered the payroll through unauthorised or illegal recruitment processes are hereby phased out,” the government said.
To provide a fresh opportunity for qualified persons, the government said it had approved the recruitment of 4,000 personnel through a new and transparent process.
According to the statement, the new exercise will deploy digital platforms and modern recruitment procedures to objectively determine staffing needs and ensure that employment is based on established requirements.
The government encouraged persons affected by the cancellation who possess the requisite qualifications to reapply through the new recruitment process.
It also directed the Attorney-General of the State and relevant law enforcement agencies to commence investigations into the circumstances surrounding the recruitment exercise and prosecute persons found culpable in accordance with the law.
The government said legitimate employees of the Local Government Service Commission who were lawfully recruited with due approval had continued to receive their salaries.
However, it disclosed that persons removed from the payroll as a consequence of the nullification of the unauthorised recruitment would receive compensatory benefits.
The government also said steps would be taken to comprehensively unbundle and sanitise the entire payroll.
Expressing sympathy with citizens who might have fallen victim to what it described as a “criminal enterprise”, the government said it could not assume responsibility for appointments that were neither authorised nor issued through lawful recruitment procedures.
“The government cannot assume responsibility for appointments that were never authorized, approved or issued through a lawful recruitment process.
“To do otherwise would amount to legitimizing fraud, compromising due process and undermining the integrity of the public service,” it said.
The government urged members of the public, particularly those affected by the decision, to remain calm and take advantage of the new recruitment window.
It reiterated its commitment to building a professional, transparent, efficient and people-centred public service.
