Rivers Staff Audit Reveals Ghost Workers And Pension Gaps

Rivers State Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.), has uncovered sharp discrepancies in the state’s payroll following the ongoing biometric verification of workers and pensioners.

Speaking during a meeting with labour leaders at Government House, Port Harcourt, on Friday, Ibas said only 37,703 workers had been verified, far lower than the 43,000 civil servants earlier listed in government records.

He explained that 19,186 state pensioners were confirmed, against more than 25,500 previously recorded, while just 2,004 local government pensioners were verified out of over 2,600 earlier captured. In addition, about 8,000 council workers across seven LGAs — including Obio/Akpor, Bonny, Etche and Degema — were verified.

Ibas gave September 4 as the deadline for completing the verification of all local government staff, stressing that the state would deploy every necessary resource to meet the target.

The Sole Administrator, who vowed zero tolerance for corruption, also revealed that only arrears for March 2025 had been cleared so far due to problems arising from the flawed records.

He disclosed that an excess payment of ₦117 million was detected in the March payroll, which has now triggered a formal investigation.

“There must be consequences. Such malpractice is a crime against colleagues whose bereaved families are left in pain and penury,” Ibas warned.