The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered a major payroll fraud scheme in which a government official allegedly enrolled 14 members of his family as workers and collected their salaries.
The ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Aliyu, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja while delivering the keynote address at the 2026 Economic Confidential Lecture and National Spokespersons Award, organised by Image Merchants Promotions Limited.
Aliyu said the discovery was made during a year-long investigation into suspected ghost workers and payroll manipulation across government institutions.
According to him, one government official allegedly inserted 14 family members into the public payroll, while another enrolled his wife, daughter, son and other relatives, enabling him to receive salaries meant for 13 people.
“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 said.
He added that another individual “enrolled his wife, his daughter, his son, and others and was receiving 13 salaries.”
The ICPC chairman said the investigation uncovered sophisticated methods allegedly used to manipulate payroll records, including cases where the names and email addresses of purported employees appeared in government databases, while the bank accounts linked to the records belonged to different individuals.
“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 disclosed that the commission had identified about 900 suspected ghost workers and published their names to give those affected an opportunity to prove that they were legitimate government employees.
He warned that payroll fraud goes beyond the payment of fictitious salaries, as ghost workers could also generate fraudulent pension, mortgage, housing fund and health insurance benefits.
“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,” he said.
The ICPC boss further disclosed that the commission recovered more than N24 billion linked to ghost-worker pension payments in 2024, underscoring the financial implications of payroll manipulation on public resources.
He said the commission was increasingly shifting its focus towards prevention, data-driven investigations and systemic interventions capable of blocking avenues for corruption before public funds were lost.
Aliyu argued that preventing fraudulent transactions was more effective than relying exclusively on prosecution after the damage had been done.
“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 deployment of technology and data analytics in the fight against corruption, stressing that reliable data and effective communication were essential to strengthening accountability and restoring public confidence in government institutions.
The latest disclosure highlights the scale and sophistication of payroll fraud in the public sector and the ICPC’s ongoing efforts to identify ghost workers, recover diverted funds and close loopholes exploited by individuals to defraud government.
