Police Top Payroll Fraud List as ICPC Uncovers 908 Ghost Workers
- The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission named the Nigeria Police Force as the institution with the highest number of suspected ghost workers during its payroll sweep
- ICPC Chairman Musa Adamu Aliyu revealed that investigators found one official allegedly collecting salaries on behalf of 15 people, including family members
- The commission said it recovered about N942m in fraudulent salary payments across at least 50 ministries, departments and agencies
Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over 8 years of experience covering metro, government policy, and international issues
FCT, Abuja - The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has named the Nigeria Police Force and five federal ministries as the worst-hit institutions in a nationwide payroll verification exercise that turned up 908 suspected ghost workers across at least 50 federal institutions.
ICPC Chairman Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN) said the commission had recovered about N942 million that was paid out as fraudulent salaries to fictitious names inserted into government payrolls.
Source: Twitter
Aliyu described ghost workers as non-existent individuals whose names are placed on payrolls so that officials can siphon the corresponding salaries.
As reported by The Punch, Aliyu disclosed the findings on Wednesday, July 22, 2026.
In some cases, he said, workers added relatives or associates to the system while those individuals never reported to any government office.
One case that stood out involved a man who allegedly put his wife, son and mother-in-law on the payroll while also drawing the salaries of 12 other workers, meaning he was collecting pay meant for 15 people in total.
Police leads in suspected ghost workers
According to Vanguard, the Nigeria Police Force recorded the single largest haul of suspected fake workers among all institutions checked.
"For this operation, we identified 570 people whom we suspect are among the fake workers collecting salaries without working."
The National Water Resources Authority came second with 80 suspected ghost workers.
"For this agency, we identified 80 names of people collecting salaries even though they are not workers of the agency."
The Federal Ministry of Works followed with 56 suspected fake workers, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had 24.
The Ministry of Defence recorded 19. "For the Ministry of Defence, we identified 19 people acting as fake workers."
Other agencies named in payroll fraud probe
Several other institutions were also found to have fraudulent entries on their payrolls.
The Federal Ministry of Electricity and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment each had 17 suspected ghost workers, while the Federal Ministry of Health recorded 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 included among the affected institutions, though the ICPC did not release specific figures for either office.
Source: Twitter
FG uncovered 45,000 ghost workers
Recall that the federal government identified about 45,000 ghost workers after integrating payroll records with the BVN database, significantly reducing fraud.
The previous biometric verification efforts failed due to resistance from some agencies, which allowed irregular payments to continue unchecked.
The new accountability measures required Permanent Secretaries to approve payrolls, creating responsibility and limiting future manipulation.
FG takes action against ghost workers receiving salaries
Meanwhile, Legit.ng also reported that the Tinubu-led government has launched a personnel audit to identify ghost workers, especially those who have relocated abroad but continue to earn salaries.
The audit, initiated by the Accountant General’s office, targets MDAs under its pool, with a May 2 deadline for submission of updated staff records.
This action follows President Tinubu’s 2023 directive to recover funds from absconded civil servants and discipline complicit supervisors.
Source: Legit.ng
