ICPC Nabs Govt Official Who Put 14 Ghost-Workers-Relatives On Government Payroll

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it has uncovered widespread payroll fraud in government agencies, including one case in which an official allegedly enrolled 14 family members and drew multiple salaries.

ICPC Chairman Musa Aliyu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, disclosed the findings while delivering the keynote address at the Economic Confidential Lecture and National Spokespersons Award, organised by Image Merchants Promotions Limited (IMPR) in Abuja on Thursday, August 13, 2026.

Speaking on the theme Anti-corruption Reforms, Economic Stability and Effective Communication, Aliyu described how individuals had manipulated payroll systems to insert fictitious workers and siphon public funds.

"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," he said.

He cited a second case in which a man allegedly put his wife, daughter and son on the payroll to collect 13 salaries.

A separate case, he added, involved a private hotel listed on the payroll as though it were a public officer.

Aliyu said the commission had identified roughly 900 suspected ghost workers and published their names publicly, inviting anyone wrongly listed to prove they were genuine employees.

He said the investigation took about a year to complete and uncovered cases where names and email addresses on official payrolls looked legitimate, but the bank accounts tied to them belonged to someone else entirely.

He warned that the fallout from ghost workers reaches beyond salaries alone, since fictitious employees can also draw pensions, mortgages, housing funds and health insurance.

According to Aliyu, the commission recovered more than N24 billion in suspected ghost workers' pension funds in 2024, and has since secured forfeiture orders tied to over 900 accounts.

Part of Aliyu's remarks:

‘We spent one year, one single year, on ghost workers. When they insert their names, you will see their name in the payroll. You will see their email. But when you check the account number, you will see the name of the person.’

Aliyu said the ICPC was shifting more of its focus toward prevention and system fixes rather than relying only on prosecutions.

‘It is better for us to do that than to engage in filing criminal charges. How many charges can we file?’ he said.

He also called for greater use of data and technology in anti-corruption work, arguing that reliable information and communication are key to rebuilding public trust.