Police top list as ICPC exposes 908 ghost workers across MDAs

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, has revealed that it uncovered 908 ghost workers across several federal ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, in a payroll fraud scheme that allegedly drained hundreds of millions of naira from government coffers.

The anti-corruption agency disclosed that it recovered about N942 million believed to have been paid as salaries to the non-existent workers.

According to BBC Pidgin, ICPC Chairman Musa Aliyu said the discovery followed an investigation launched in 2024 after the commission detected irregularities in pension payments.

The commission explained that ghost workers are people whose names are illegally inserted into government payroll systems despite not being genuine employees.

Aliyu said investigators uncovered cases in which senior government officials allegedly enrolled family members and close associates on payrolls, diverting the salary payments for personal use.

He said one suspect allegedly added the names of his wife, son and mother-in-law to the payroll while also collecting the salaries of 12 other workers.

The ICPC chairman stated that the investigation covered at least 50 ministries, departments and agencies, with some institutions recording far higher numbers of ghost workers than others.

The Nigeria Police Force recorded the highest figure, with 570 suspected ghost workers.

Aliyu said the National Water Resources Authority had 80 ghost workers, while the Federal Ministry of Works recorded 56.

He added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had 24, the Ministry of Defence had 19, while both the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment had 17 each.

The Federal Ministry of Health accounted for 15 ghost workers, while the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation recorded 12.

Aliyu further disclosed that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Interior were also affected by the payroll fraud, but noted that the exact number of ghost workers in those institutions has not yet been released as investigations are still ongoing.