The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered 908 suspected ghost workers across Federal Government ministries, departments and agencies, recovering N942 million in fraudulent salary payments, with the Nigeria Police Force accounting for the highest number of offenders.
ICPC Chairman, Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN), who disclosed this in an interview with BBC Pidgin, said the commission launched the investigation in 2024 after detecting irregularities in pension payments.
“We discovered that some individuals created fictitious names and inserted them into government payrolls.The salaries meant for these ghost workers were then diverted by corrupt public officials for personal use”, said Aliyu.
He revealed that investigators uncovered elaborate schemes, including one case that stood out.
“In one instance, a suspect placed his wife, son and mother-in-law on the government payroll while also diverting the salaries of 12 legitimate workers,” the ICPC chairman stated.
The Nigeria Police Force topped the list of offending agencies with 570 suspected ghost workers.
Other affected institutions include the National Water Resources Authority with 80 suspects, the Federal Ministry of Works with 56, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with 24, and the Ministry of Defence with 19.
The Federal Ministry of Electricity and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment each recorded 17 suspected ghost 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 named, though the ICPC did not disclose the number of suspects identified in those agencies.
“Our investigation is still ongoing. We are working to identify all those involved, and we assure Nigerians that anyone found responsible for this payroll fraud will face prosecution”, Aliyu added.
The commission noted that the recovered N942 million has been returned to the Federation Account.
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