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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Crime & Justice

Nigeria's payroll fraud: 'Ghost workers' and corrupt officials implicated

From ThisDay · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • Nigeria's Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered widespread payroll fraud involving "ghost workers" across federal ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).
  • The ICPC investigation, ongoing since 2024, revealed that senior public officials allegedly enrolled relatives and associates, and created fictitious employee names to illegally collect salaries.
  • The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is identified as the worst culprit, with 570 suspected fake workers, highlighting a significant lack of transparency and accountability in public life.

Despite the implementation of electronic verification systems, Nigeria continues to battle the pervasive issue of "ghost workers" who divert billions of government funds annually. A nationwide investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has exposed extensive payroll fraud within federal ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).

ICPC Chairman Musa Adamu Aliyu revealed that some senior public officials have exploited the system by adding relatives and associates to government payrolls to illegally receive salaries. One suspect is alleged to have placed his wife, son, and mother-in-law on the payroll while simultaneously collecting salaries for 12 fictitious workers. This ongoing "ghost worker" syndrome, a recurring problem under successive administrations, appears insurmountable despite efforts to eliminate such anomalies.

The investigation, launched in 2024, has identified the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) as the most significant offender, with 570 individuals suspected of being fake workers drawing salaries without performing duties. The involvement of the NPF, an institution responsible for crime detection, in such a scandal underscores a profound lack of transparency and accountability in Nigeria's public sector.

Other implicated MDAs include the National Water Resources Authority, Federal Ministry of Works, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Interior, and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. Even the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) is reportedly deeply involved. The persistence of this fraud, even after the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), highlights systemic weaknesses in public finance management.

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

— ICPCDisclosing the number of suspected fake workers found in the Nigeria Police Force.
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Originally published by ThisDay in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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