The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has uncovered alleged manipulation of government payroll systems, including cases involving officials who enrolled relatives as workers and collected multiple salaries.
The ICPC Chairman, Musa Aliyu (SAN), disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the 2026 Economic Confidential Lecture and National Spokespersons Award organised by Image Merchants Promotions Limited.
Aliyu said investigations into ghost workers revealed that some individuals exploited weaknesses in government payroll systems to create fictitious employees and divert public funds.
According to him, one individual allegedly registered 14 members of his family on the payroll while receiving their salaries.
He said, “We discovered that one person enrolled 14 members of his family. He lived in a religious hotel, a hotel at the public office, receiving salaries.”
The ICPC chairman also disclosed that another person allegedly registered several members of his immediate family and collected 13 salaries.
Aliyu said the commission identified about 900 suspected ghost workers and published their names to give the individuals an opportunity to establish that they were legitimate government employees.
He said, “We secured the income of about 900 ghost workers, whose names we published in the newspapers.”
The anti-corruption chief explained that the commission spent about a year investigating the suspected payroll fraud and tracing how fictitious identities were inserted into official records.
He said some of the fraudulent payroll entries contained genuine-looking details, including names and email addresses, while the bank accounts attached to them belonged to other people.
Aliyu explained, “When they insert their names, you will see their name in the payroll and their email. But when you check the account number, you will see the name of another person.”
He warned that the impact of ghost workers could extend beyond the payment of salaries, as fraudulent identities could also be used to obtain pensions, housing benefits, mortgages and health insurance.
The ICPC chairman disclosed that the commission recovered more than N24bn in ghost pension funds in 2024, as part of its efforts to protect public resources.
Aliyu said the commission was increasingly emphasising preventive measures, including monitoring government projects and recovering public funds, rather than relying entirely on criminal prosecution.
He said, “It is better for us to do that than to engage in filing criminal charges. How many charges can we file?”
He further called for greater deployment of technology and data in the fight against corruption, stressing that reliable information and effective communication were essential to strengthening accountability and public trust.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of Image Merchants Promotions Limited, Yusha’u Shuaib, said the event was designed to promote transparency, accountability and improved public communication.
Shuaib said, “We are honoured to host yet another gathering of leaders, professionals, scholars and communication experts committed to strengthening governance, promoting transparency and advancing excellence in public communication.”
