ICPC recovers N942 million from 908 suspected ghost workers across 50 MDAs

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has identified 908 suspected ghost workers across at least 50 federal ministries, departments and agencies, recovering approximately N942 million allegedly paid out as fraudulent salaries during a payroll verification exercise.

ICPC Chairman Musa Adamu Aliyu disclosed the findings while speaking on the commission’s investigation into payroll fraud across federal government institutions, according to a BBC Pidgin report on Wednesday.

The Commission revealed that the Nigeria Police Force recorded the highest number of suspected fake workers among all institutions examined.

What the ICPC is saying

Aliyu said the scale and nature of the fraud uncovered points to deliberate and systematic manipulation of government payrolls by officials exploiting their positions.

• He disclosed one particularly egregious case in which a single individual allegedly placed the names of his wife, son and mother-in-law on the payroll while also collecting the salaries of 12 workers, a level of abuse that went undetected until the commission’s verification exercise.

On the Nigeria Police Force, which recorded the highest number of suspected fake workers of any institution examined, Aliyu said:

• “For this operation, we identified 570 people whom we suspect are among the fake workers collecting salaries without working.”

On the National Water Resources Authority, which recorded the second highest tally with 80 suspected fake workers, Aliyu said:

• “For this agency, we identified 80 names of people collecting salaries even though they are not workers of the agency.”
• On the Ministry of Defence, Aliyu said: “For the Ministry of Defence, we identified 19 people acting as fake workers.”

More insights

The ICPC also identified suspected ghost workers across several other federal ministries and agencies during the exercise.

• The Federal Ministry of Works recorded 56 suspected fake workers, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had 24.
• The Federal Ministry of Electricity and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment each recorded 17 suspected fake workers, while the Federal Ministry of Health had 15 and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had 12.
• The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Interior were also listed among affected institutions, though the ICPC did not disclose the number of suspected fake workers found in those two offices.

The investigation, launched in 2024, remains ongoing, with the commission saying some salaries were allegedly diverted by officials who add relatives or associates to payrolls despite them not being employed.

What you should know

Nairametrics had earlier reported that the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of N941,994,079.86 traced to suspected ghost workers uncovered during the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission’s (ICPC) investigation into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

The order was granted by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, following an ex parte application filed by the ICPC, according to a statement issued by the anti-graft agency.

As part of the forfeiture proceedings, the commission had, pursuant to an earlier interim court order, published the names of 910 individuals suspected of benefiting from the alleged payroll fraud in Daily Trust and The Nation newspapers on March 18, 2026.