CROSS River State Governor Ben Ayade has given the over 2,500 workers delisted from the state payroll the conditions they must meet to be reabsorb.

The governor addressed the affected workers yesterday at the U. J. Eusene Stadium in Calabar, the state capital.

He directed them to report for verification and regularisation.

Ayade said the affected workers were hired without his knowledge, adding that “the state Civil Service Commission did the employment without recourse to me”.

The governor listed some of the conditions the delisted workers need to meet to include the verification before reabsorption as fresh workers and without demands for any arrears.

Asking the affected workers to put themselves in his shoes, he queried: “If you were the governor of the state and you suddenly discovered an additional 2,500 workers on your payroll that you did not authorise, that you did not know about, that nobody consulted you about, what will you do?”

Ayade noted that if he was vindictive, he would have since sacked officials who smuggled the names of the delisted workers into the state’s payroll.

“I am doing so on compassionate ground and not because the state is buoyant enough to accommodate you,” he told the affected workers.