Tinubu’s IPPIS Was Meant to Kill Ghost Workers, Instead It Paid N941 Million to People Who Don’t Exist

President Bola Tinubu approved a comprehensive audit of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) that uncovered 908 ghost workers across at least 50 federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, exposing a payroll fraud that paid nearly N1 billion to non-existent public servants.

The IPPIS was introduced in 2007 to eliminate ghost workers, combat payroll fraud, and enhance transparency. Yet a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the final forfeiture of N941,994,079.86 linked to suspected ghost workers on the platform. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission uncovered large-scale payroll fraud involving hundreds of non-existent public servants, with the sum traced to accounts linked to the scheme.

The fraud was widespread. The Nigeria Police Force recorded the highest number with 570 fictitious employees on its payroll. The National Water Resources Authority followed with 80 ghost workers, while the Federal Ministry of Works had 56. Other affected MDAs included the Federal Ministries of Defence, Education, Agriculture, Interior, and even the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Investigations revealed that fictitious IPPIS identities had been created for non-existent personnel, with salaries paid over extended periods into accounts belonging to individuals and companies. In many cases, the account names did not correspond with those of the purported employees, while some accounts received multiple salary payments simultaneously. In one instance, an official allegedly placed his wife, son and mother-in-law on the government payroll while also collecting salaries meant for 12 other fictitious workers. Senior government officials allegedly inserted the names of relatives and associates into the federal payroll despite them not being legitimate public servants. The ICPC placed Post No Debit restrictions on all identified accounts between August and November 2024, freezing funds suspected to be proceeds of fraud.

A verification exercise conducted in 2025 cleared 120 civil servants, whose identities and employment status were confirmed and subsequently reinstated on the IPPIS platform. However, 467 bank accounts remain linked to unverified individuals, with account holders yet to be identified. The ICPC published the names of 910 individuals suspected to have benefited from the fraud in two national dailies on March 18, 2026.

The system designed to stop payroll fraud was itself used to perpetuate it. The ICPC recovered the money, but no one has been prosecuted. Lawyers are pushing for the identification and prosecution of government officials and beneficiaries allegedly behind the creation of the ghost workers. One caller to a radio programme argued: “Recovering the money is not enough. Those who created these ghost workers and those who protected them should be prosecuted so others can learn.”

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