Ghost workers: ICPC exposes official who put 14 family members on govt payroll

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered cases of alleged manipulation of government payroll systems to enable some individuals to receive multiple salaries.

The ICPC Chairman, Musa Aliyu, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja while speaking at the 2026 Economic Confidential Lecture and National Spokespersons Award organised by Image Merchants Promotions Limited.

Aliyu said the commission discovered a case involving an individual who allegedly placed 14 relatives on the government payroll as workers who did not exist.

“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.

“Another person enrolled his wife, his daughter, his son, and others and was receiving 13 salaries,” he said.

The ICPC chairman said the commission had identified about 900 suspected ghost workers and made their names public so that those affected could come forward to prove that they were genuine government employees.

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He said investigators spent about a year examining the payroll system and uncovering how fictitious workers were added to official records.

According to him, some of the suspected ghost workers had complete details, including names and email addresses, but the bank accounts linked to their records belonged to other people.

“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. So, that is how these things have been done,” he explained.

Aliyu said the effect of ghost workers went beyond the salaries paid to fictitious employees, noting that fraudulent records could also result in losses through pensions, mortgages, housing funds and health insurance.

“Because, you know, once there is a ghost worker, there is ghost pension, there is ghost mortgage, there is ghost housing fund, there is ghost health insurance.

“In 2024, we recovered over ₦24 billion ghost workers pension,” Aliyu said.

He said the ICPC was working with other government agencies to prevent similar cases and recover funds lost through fraudulent activities.

Aliyu added that the commission was focusing more on preventing corruption and ensuring that public projects delivered value, instead of relying only on criminal prosecution after public funds had been lost.

He said the commission had recovered or protected public resources through interventions in government projects and other areas.

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

He explained that the aim was to ensure that public funds were properly used and that Nigerians got value from government spending.