ICPC uncovers 908 ghost workers, police top list with 570
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has uncovered 908 suspected ghost workers across at least 50 federal ministries, departments and agencies, with the Nigeria Police Force recording the highest number of alleged fake employees.
ICPC Chairman, Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN), disclosed the findings during an update on the commission’s ongoing investigation into payroll fraud in federal government institutions, according to a BBC Pidgin report on Wednesday.
He said the exercise, which began in 2024, has so far led to the recovery of about N942 million allegedly paid as fraudulent salaries.
According to the commission, ghost workers are fictitious names inserted into government payrolls to fraudulently collect salaries. In some instances, officials allegedly add relatives or associates to payrolls despite them not being employees.
Aliyu revealed that investigators uncovered a case involving a man who allegedly placed the names of his wife, son and mother-in-law on the payroll while also collecting the salaries of 12 legitimate workers.
The ICPC chairman disclosed that the Nigeria Police Force recorded the highest number of suspected ghost workers, with 570 names identified during the verification exercise.
“For this operation, we identified 570 people whom we suspect are among the fake workers collecting salaries without working,” Aliyu said.
The National Water Resources Authority ranked second with 80 suspected ghost workers, followed by the Federal Ministry of Works with 56.
“For this agency, we identified 80 names of people collecting salaries even though they are not workers of the agency,” he said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recorded 24 suspected fake workers, while the Ministry of Defence had 19.
“For the Ministry of Defence, we identified 19 people acting as fake workers,” the ICPC chairman added.
Other institutions affected include the Federal Ministry of Electricity and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, each with 17 suspected ghost workers, the Federal Ministry of Health with 15, and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation with 12.
The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Interior were also listed among agencies affected by the payroll fraud, although the commission did not disclose the number of suspected ghost workers identified in the two institutions.
The ICPC said investigations into the payroll fraud are ongoing, adding that efforts are being intensified to identify those behind the fraudulent scheme and recover all public funds lost through the illegal payroll practices.
Source: Punch