The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered 908 suspected ghost workers across several federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), recovering about N942 million allegedly paid out through the fraudulent payroll scheme.
ICPC Chairman, Musa Aliyu, disclosed that the discovery followed a nationwide investigation launched in 2024 after the commission detected irregularities in pension payments.
According to him, the probe exposed a widespread payroll fraud in which non-existent employees were inserted into government payrolls, with salaries allegedly diverted by public officials for personal gain.
Aliyu said investigators uncovered instances where senior government officials allegedly enrolled relatives and associates as workers to illegally receive government salaries.
He cited one case in which a suspect allegedly placed the names of his wife, son and mother-in-law on the payroll while also collecting the salaries of 12 other fictitious employees.
The ICPC chairman said the investigation covered at least 50 federal MDAs, revealing varying levels of payroll fraud across the institutions.
The Nigeria Police Force recorded the highest number of suspected ghost workers with 570 names identified during the exercise.
Other affected agencies include the National Water Resources Authority with 80 suspected fake workers, the Federal Ministry of Works with 56, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with 24, and the Ministry of Defence with 19.
The Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment each recorded 17 suspected ghost workers, while the Federal Ministry of Health had 15 and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had 12.
Aliyu added that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Interior were also implicated in the investigation, although he did not disclose the number of suspected ghost workers in those institutions, noting that investigations were still ongoing.
The ICPC said the recovered N942 million represents funds allegedly diverted through the fraudulent salary payments, adding that efforts were continuing to identify those responsible and recover additional public funds lost to the scheme.