The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has revealed that the Nigeria Police Force and five federal ministries and agencies recorded the highest number of suspected ghost workers uncovered during an ongoing nationwide payroll verification exercise.
ICPC Chairman, Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN), disclosed the findings while speaking on the commission’s investigation into payroll fraud across federal government institutions, according to a BBC Pidgin report published on Wednesday.
The anti-corruption agency said its ongoing verification exercise uncovered 908 suspected ghost workers across at least 50 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), leading to the recovery of approximately ₦942 million allegedly paid out as fraudulent salaries.
The commission explained that ghost workers are fictitious names fraudulently inserted into government payroll systems to receive salaries. In some instances, officials allegedly add relatives, friends or associates to payrolls despite them not being legitimate employees of the government.
Aliyu disclosed that investigators uncovered one case in which a suspect allegedly enrolled his wife, son and mother-in-law into the government payroll while simultaneously collecting the salaries of 12 other workers.
According to the ICPC chairman, the Nigeria Police Force recorded the highest number of suspected ghost workers identified during the exercise.
“For this operation, we identified 570 people whom we suspect are among the fake workers collecting salaries without working,” he said.
The National Water Resources Authority ranked second, with 80 suspected ghost workers uncovered during the verification process.
“For this agency, we identified 80 names of people collecting salaries even though they are not workers of the agency,” Aliyu stated.
The Federal Ministry of Works was found to have 56 suspected ghost workers, while the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs recorded 24 suspected fictitious employees.
The Federal Ministry of Defence also featured prominently in the findings, with the commission identifying 19 suspected ghost workers.
“For the Ministry of Defence, we identified 19 people acting as fake workers,” the ICPC chairman said.
Other institutions affected by the payroll fraud 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 was found to have 15 suspected fictitious employees, while the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation recorded 12 suspected ghost workers.
The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Interior were also listed among institutions affected by the payroll fraud. However, the ICPC did not disclose the exact number of suspected ghost workers identified within the two establishments.
Aliyu noted that the payroll verification exercise, which commenced in 2024, remains ongoing as investigators continue scrutinising payroll records across federal government institutions.
He assured that the commission would sustain efforts to eliminate payroll fraud and ensure that those responsible for diverting public funds through ghost worker schemes are brought to justice.
The ICPC has consistently identified payroll fraud as one of the major channels through which public funds are siphoned from government institutions, with several investigations in recent years exposing fictitious workers, inflated payrolls and salary diversion schemes across various MDAs.
The commission maintained that strengthening payroll integrity remains critical to improving accountability, reducing corruption and safeguarding public resources.
