The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has revealed that the Nigeria Police Force recorded the highest number of suspected ghost workers uncovered during a nationwide payroll verification exercise involving federal government institutions.
ICPC Chairman, Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN), disclosed the findings while speaking on the commission’s ongoing investigation into payroll fraud across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), according to a report by BBC Pidgin published on Wednesday.
The anti-corruption agency said its verification exercise covered at least 50 federal MDAs, where investigators identified 908 suspected ghost workers and recovered approximately N942 million allegedly paid out as fraudulent salaries.
The commission explained that ghost workers are fictitious or ineligible individuals inserted into government payroll systems to receive salaries illegally. It added that in some cases, public officials allegedly inflate payrolls by including relatives, associates or other individuals who are not legitimate employees.
Aliyu cited one investigation in which a suspect allegedly placed his wife, son and mother-in-law on the government payroll while also collecting the salaries of 12 other workers.
According to the ICPC, the Nigeria Police Force accounted for the largest number of suspected ghost workers, with 570 names flagged 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 next, with 80 suspected ghost workers identified by investigators.
Aliyu stated that the commission found 80 individuals receiving salaries from the agency despite not being its employees.
The Federal Ministry of Works recorded 56 suspected ghost workers, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had 24. The Ministry of Defence was also listed, with 19 suspected ghost workers uncovered during the exercise.
“For the Ministry of Defence, we identified 19 people acting as fake workers,” the ICPC chairman said.
Other agencies 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 recorded 15 suspected cases, while 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 among institutions affected by the payroll fraud investigation. However, the ICPC did not disclose the number of suspected ghost workers identified in the two offices.
