…N117m overpayment discovered in March payroll
The Rivers State government has uncovered thousands of ghost workers and pensioners following a fresh verification exercise of its workforce and retirees.
Official figures released on Friday by the Sole Administrator of the state, Ibok-Ete Ibas, revealed a sharp drop in the number of workers and pensioners on the government’s payroll after the audit.
According to him, only 37,703 civil servants were confirmed as genuine employees, compared to a previous record of over 43,000, while the number of pensioners fell to 19,186 against the earlier figure of more than 25,500 retirees.
Speaking during a meeting with leaders of organised labour at the Government House in Port Harcourt, Ibas disclosed that the state had already verified 2,004 local government pensioners out of over 2,600 earlier listed, while about 8,000 council staff were confirmed across seven LGAs, including Obio/Akpor, Bonny, Etche, and Degema.
The sole administrator said the verification exercise was aimed at eliminating payroll fraud and plugging financial leakages, stressing that the government would not tolerate corruption.
He gave September 4, 2025, as deadline for the conclusion of the local government staff verification exercise, adding that all state resources would be mobilised to meet the target.
Ibas further revealed that during the process, the government discovered an overpayment of N117 million in the March payroll schedule, a development which he said had already triggered an official investigation.
“While efforts are ongoing to sanitise the payroll, we have so far cleared only arrears for March 2025 due to discrepancies in the verified records. The system will no longer accommodate fraud,” he assured.
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