From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
Ebonyi State Government has ordered the immediate suspension of pension payment over alleged fraudulent activities.
Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Uchenna Orji, announced the suspension after Thursday State Executive Council meeting chaired by the Governor.
Orji said the suspension was to allow for a revalidation and re-verification exercise to detect and remove the names of dead persons on the pension list.
“EXCO received a memo on the re-validation and re-verification of Pensioners in Ebonyi State due to a continuous increase in wage bills. The office of the Head of Service had made discoveries of payments made to deceased pensioners in the State and this is one of the reasons for this verification exercise. XCO approved the re-validation of all pensioners in the State beginning with the retired Permanent Secretaries and Directors in the State.
“EXCO also further approved that payment of pensions to these pensioners be suspended until the end of the exercise which will not exceed twenty (20) working days after which payments to all cleared retirees will be reinstated”