The recent civil servants and pensioners verification exercise in Rivers State has revealed a significant reduction in the number of civil servants and retirees on the state’s payroll.

According to official figures, only 37,703 staff were verified as genuine employees, compared to a previous record of over 43,000 civil servants in the state.

Similarly, the verification confirmed 19,186 pensioners, against the earlier record of more than 25,500 retirees.

This was disclosed by the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Ibok-Ete Ibas, during a meeting with the leadership of labour unions in the state on Friday at the Government House, where he highlighted disparities uncovered in the verification exercise.

Ibas explained that 2,004 local government pensioners were verified out of more than 2,600, while about 8,000 local government staff were confirmed across seven LGAs, including Obio/Akpor, Bonny, Etche, and Degema.

He gave a deadline of September 4, 2025, for the completion of all local government staff verification exercise, assuring that all necessary state resources would be deployed to meet the target.

The Sole Administrator, who reiterated his zero-tolerance stance on corruption, noted that while efforts are ongoing, only arrears for March 2025 have so far been cleared due to challenges with the verified records.

He further disclosed that an overpayment of N117 million was discovered in the March schedule, adding that the anomaly triggered an official investigation.