Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade, his deputy, Professor Ivara Esu and all the executive council members have agreed on a cut of their monthly salaries.
While the governor offered 80 percent of his salary, his deputy and all Executive Council members agreed to forfeit 20 percent of their monthly pay to make provision for the large number of political aides appointed by the governor.
The Commissioner for Information, Mrs Rosemary Archibong who announced the pay cut by the governor and his aides in Calabar, Tuesday, said that the decision was voluntary and would take effect retroactively from when they were appointed.
“What the governor wants is to reach as many people as possible by appointing many people into government and this involves huge financial commitment and so to make sure our brothers and sisters who are part of government go home with something at the end of every month.”
She said the Executive Council members were in support of the vision of the governor to impart positively on the people of the state and their parting with part of their monthly emoluments was in support of that vision so that more people could be provided for through political appointments.
Mrs Archibong said that the deductions from each commissioner’s salary would be based on the amount due each one as salary monthly based on calculations by the Revenue Moblisation and Fiscal Commission in Abuja.
-Vanguard
