The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has found cases where government payroll systems were tampered with to create fake workers, including an official who reportedly added 14 family members to the payroll and claimed multiple salaries.
Musa Aliyu, the chairman of the ICPC, shared this information during his keynote speech at the 2026 Economic Confidential Lecture and National Spokespersons Award, hosted by Image Merchants Promotions Limited (IMPR) in Abuja on Thursday, July 13.
Aliyu mentioned that the commission's investigations revealed various ways fictitious employees were added to government payrolls, leading to misappropriation of public funds.
He explained, "We found that one person had enrolled 14 members of his family.
He lived in a religious hotel, which is a public office, and was receiving salaries." "Another person added his wife, daughter, son, and others and was getting 13 salaries," he added.
The ICPC chairman stated that the commission had identified approximately 900 suspected ghost workers and shared their names to enable those affected to confirm their legitimate employment status.
He mentioned that the investigation took about a year and uncovered instances where fake employees had real names and email addresses in official payroll systems, while their bank accounts were linked to other individuals.
"We spent one year, just one year, investigating ghost workers," Aliyu said.
"When they enter their names, you will see them in the payroll.You will see their email.However, when you check the account number, you will find the name of another person.That is how these frauds are carried out."
Aliyu warned that payroll fraud could result in more than just salary misallocation, as fake employees could also benefit from pensions, mortgages, housing funds, and health insurance.
He disclosed that the ICPC recovered over N24 billion in suspected pension funds from ghost workers in 2024.
"Because once there is a ghost worker, there is also a ghost pension, a ghost mortgage, a ghost housing fund, and a ghost health insurance," he said.
"In 2024, we recovered more than N24 billion in ghost workers’ pension funds." The ICPC chairman said the commission was working more closely with other government agencies and was taking preventive steps to stop corruption and recover public resources.
He emphasized that the commission was now focusing more on preventing corruption and ensuring government projects are carried out properly, rather than relying only on criminal prosecution.
"It is better for us to do that rather than just filing criminal charges.How many charges can we actually file?" Aliyu said.
He also mentioned that the ultimate goal was to ensure that Nigerians receive value for the money spent by the government.
Aliyu urged for more use of data and technology in fighting corruption, stressing that accurate information and effective communication were key to building public trust in anti-corruption efforts.
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