Ghost Workers Flood Federal Payroll, Says ICPC Chair

By Saheed Olatunji, Reporter

Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), revealed that fictitious names and fraud have compromised the Federal Government’s payroll.

Speaking in Abuja at the fourth Economic Confidential Lecture and sixth National Spokespersons Awards, the ICPC chairman disclosed this. The event’s theme was ‘Anti-Corruption Reforms, Economic Stability, and Effective Communication.”

Aliyu said the abuse of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) had resulted in the diversion of public funds, with the commission’s investigation into the 2024 payroll uncovering fraud that led to the recovery of more than N941.9 million.

He said the Federal High Court had ordered the final forfeiture of the recovered funds to the Federal Government.

 

The ICPC chair cited the case of Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Mr Olusanya Matthew Arilewola & 908 Others (Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/156/2026), in which the court ordered the final forfeiture of over N941.9 million recovered during the ICPC’s investigation into the 2024 IPPIS payroll fraud.

He said the development demonstrated the economic importance of anti-corruption enforcement, particularly in protecting public funds from being siphoned through fraudulent payroll practices.

“This reinforces fiscal discipline, protects public finances and ensures that public funds are redirected to their intended purpose,” Aliyu said.

Aliyu said payroll fraud was only one manifestation of a broader corruption problem that continued to undermine Nigeria’s economic transformation.

He described corruption as “one of the greatest barriers to Nigeria’s economic transformation”, saying it diverted scarce resources from critical sectors including education, healthcare, infrastructure and social welfare.

“Every diverted public fund represents fewer classrooms, poorly equipped hospitals, abandoned infrastructure, and diminished opportunities for millions of Nigerians,” he said.

According to him, corruption also weakened institutions, discouraged investment, increased the cost of governance and undermined public trust.

He said its consequences went beyond direct financial losses to include distorted policy implementation, weakened rule of law and widening inequality.

Aliyu said Nigeria had introduced several reforms to strengthen its public financial management and integrity systems, including the Treasury Single Account, IPPIS, beneficial ownership transparency, improvements in public procurement, whistleblower mechanisms and digital governance.

He said the reforms were being implemented within the framework of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (2022–2026), which combines prevention, enforcement, ethical re-orientation, citizen participation and recovery and management of proceeds of crime.

The ICPC chairman said the commission’s mandate was not limited to investigating and prosecuting corruption after it had occurred, stressing that prevention was more sustainable and cost-effective.

He said the commission was using corruption-risk assessments, system studies and reviews, the Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard, Anti-Corruption and Transparency Units and its Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative to identify and address vulnerabilities in government systems.

He also disclosed that the commission had secured a Federal High Court order for the forfeiture of unlawfully acquired properties valued at more than N5 billion in a case involving the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria.

According to him, the court also directed

the completion of 962 housing units.

Aliyu said the extent of corruption risks in public administration was reflected in an April 2026 study by the Commonwealth Africa Anti-Corruption Centre (CAACC).

The study of 14 Commonwealth African countries, he said, identified public administration and defence as the sectors most vulnerable to corruption, with 46 per cent of respondents identifying them as highly exposed.

Construction followed with 40 per cent, while health and social services recorded 32 per cent.

He said bribery was the most prevalent form of corruption in the region, accounting for 79 per cent, followed by abuse of office at 48 per cent and embezzlement of public funds at 43 per cent.

Aliyu said the figures showed how corruption could raise the cost of doing business, distort procurement and discourage investment.

The CAACC study also identified greed as the leading driver of corruption, cited by 59 per cent of respondents, alongside lack of integrity and poverty.

The ICPC boss said the findings underscored the need for prevention and ethical re-orientation alongside enforcement.

He said the commission’s corruption-risk assessment of the port sector had identified procedural weaknesses that created opportunities for corruption and inefficiency.

The exercise, according to him, resulted in harmonised Standard Operating Procedures and stronger integrity measures designed to reduce administrative discretion, facilitate trade and improve investor confidence.

Aliyu also cited the 2024 UNODC/NBS National Corruption Survey as evidence of progress in citizen participation in anti-corruption efforts.

He said the rate at which Nigerians reported bribery increased from 3.6 per cent in 2019 to 8.6 per cent in 2023.

More significantly, he said, the proportion of reports that resulted in formal procedures against public officials rose from 16 per cent to 45 per cent.

The ICPC chairman said corruption was not peculiar to Nigeria or developing countries, citing major international cases involving companies such as Siemens and Odebrecht.

He said the objective should be to reduce corruption to a level where it no longer obstructed national development.

On the role of communication in the fight against corruption, Aliyu said citizens could not support reforms they neither understood nor trusted.

“Communication itself is a preventive anti-corruption instrument,” he said.

He urged the media to maintain accuracy, professionalism, fairness and objectivity, describing credibility as its greatest asset in the fight against corruption.

He cautioned against anti-corruption messages that merely emphasised the prevalence of corruption, saying such an approach could create public fatigue and reinforce the belief that corruption was inevitable.

Instead, he urged institutions to communicate tangible outcomes, including recovered funds, completed projects and restored public assets.

Aliyu said technology and artificial intelligence could also strengthen anti-corruption efforts through predictive analytics, fraud detection, procurement monitoring, financial intelligence and early identification of corruption risks.

He, however, warned that emerging technologies could also create new threats through cyber-enabled fraud, identity theft, deepfakes and digital misinformation.

He said the fight against corruption required the participation of government agencies, the private sector, civil society, professional bodies, development partners, the media and individual citizens.

The ICPC chairman also announced that the commission was consolidating its school-based initiatives into a National Schools Integrity Programme to promote integrity among young Nigerians.

“Integrity must therefore become our national culture rather than merely our legal obligation,” he said.

The convener of the Economic Confidential Lecture and National Spokespersons Awards, Yushau Shuaib, said the programme remained focused on strengthening governance through transparency, accountability and effective public engagement.

He said the event was designed to examine how anti-corruption reforms, economic stability and strategic communication could reinforce public trust and institutional credibility.

Shuaib also announced the unveiling of a research project, “AI in Crisis Communication in Nigeria,” saying the project was inspired by his experience of managing a challenging crisis and its implications for reputation management.