The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has revealed that it recovered over N20 billion in pension deductions from salaries allocated to ghost workers in 2024.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of ICPC, Dr. Musa Aliyu, on Wednesday in Abuja during a breakfast meeting with some members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.
Dr. Aliyu stated that the commission also arrested individuals involved in fraudulently inserting names of their associates into the Federal Government payroll. According to him, while pension deductions for legitimate workers are remitted to Pension Fund Administrators, deductions for ghost workers remain unclaimed.
“Any deduction made on ghost workers cannot go to any Pension Fund Administrator. It will be hanging; so that was the N20 billion recovered,” he said.
Public officials’ N50 billion diversion
Dr. Aliyu noted that in 2023, the ICPC successfully prevented the diversion of about N50 billion by some public officials.
“As we are empowered and regarding the issue of enforcement, we will ensure that we share verified information through reports, newsletters, and press releases on our website and social media.
“Last year, we had an event whereby we unveiled the Strategic Action Plan 2024-2028. Our strategic Action Plan is in line with the National Anti-Corruption Strategy. We would always be proactive in making sure that we don’t allow certain things to happen so that we don’t go chasing shadows,” he said.
The ICPC chairman advocated for a review of the country’s laws to make corruption less attractive, recommending that convicted offenders should face harsher penalties.
“Anyone found guilty of corruption should not benefit from it as in some jurisdictions,” he said.
- He suggested that such individuals be mandated to repay the full amount stolen with interest and face a public office ban for up to 10 years.
Arrests linked to payroll fraud
The ICPC chairman further disclosed that the agency identified and arrested individuals responsible for manipulating the payroll system, including one case where a government worker added his family members to the system.
“We have been able to track and recover this amount of money and we also identified people that are inserting ghost workers in the system. We even discovered that somebody had put his wife, his son, and his in-laws on the payroll.
He is a 15-year-old boy. We arrested him. These are some of the challenges that we are trying to see that we tackle. We don’t want to allow this to happen again,” he said.
Dr. Aliyu also urged Nigerians to stop glorifying corrupt individuals, noting that this cultural attitude fuels unethical practices.
