THE Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, has directed all the 637 monarchs and the Community Government Council officials in the autonomous communities across the 27 Local Councils, to verify all the pensioners in the state before they are paid.

In a statement issued by the Chief of Staff, Government House, Owerri, Chief Uche Nwosu, the exercise, which started last Friday, October 2, 2015, is intended to plug all the holes of ghost pensioners in the state, which the governor said have been uncovered.

Meanwhile, the deputy governor, Chief Eze Madumere, on behalf of the governor, has inaugurated the CGC Committee on Pensioners Verification. The event took place at the Imo International Conference Centre (IICC), Owerri, last Monday.

Inaugurating them, he charged them to do a thorough job without fear or favour, adding that the money previously paid to ghost pensioners would be recovered according to the law, adding that the measure was to fast track development and financial sanity.

The Guardian gathered that the verification exercise of civil servants and primary school retirees in the state, owed between nine and 22 months, had taken place more than two times. Some pensioners are opposed to endless screening exercises, which subject them to hardships considering their age.