Hundreds of lawyers in Cross River State, under the auspices of Law Officers Association of Nigeria (LOAN), have protested poor salaries as well as the poor welfare.

They accused the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Joe Abang, of thwarting every effort towards resolving the issue of delay in harmonizing their salaries with those of Magistrates in the state.

Amajama insisted that no lawyer will resume at the Ministry of Justice until the matter was settled in their favour.

“We embark on this strike action to agitate for our welfare. It is not just an empty agitation: it is the official policy of this government that there is parity between Law officers and the Magistracy.

“The governor came to the Ministry of Justice sometime in May to commission our Library and agreed that the harmonization should be implemented and also made provision that more law officers should be recruited. Since then, more law officers have been recruited but the implementation of the harmonization policy has not been done,” they said.

Reacting, Abang said in a statement that the issue was being handled by the Head of Service, Barr Ekpenyong Henshaw and the Accountant General of the state, warning that government will not hesitate to “implement the no work, no pay policy.”

Meanwhile, the Acting Governor, Prof. Ivara Esu, has appealed to the Lawyers to return to work, promising to do everything to resolve the issue after studying documents relating to the matter. (Daily trust)