The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it uncovered a government official who enrolled 14 family members on the payroll as ghost workers.
Musa Aliyu, ICPC Chairman, disclosed this while delivering the keynote address at the 2026 Economic Confidential Lecture and National Spokespersons Award organised by Image Merchants Promotions Limited (IMPR) in Abuja on Thursday.
Aliyu said the commission’s investigations exposed several methods used to manipulate government payroll systems, including the creation of fictitious employees to receive multiple salaries.
He said one official enrolled 14 members of his family on the government payroll, while another enrolled his wife, children and other relatives and received 13 salaries.
“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.
“Another person enrolled his wife, his daughter, his son, and others and was receiving 13 salaries.”
The ICPC Chairman said the commission had identified about 900 suspected ghost workers and published their names to enable those affected to prove that they were genuine employees.
He said the investigation lasted about one year and revealed that some fictitious employees had names and email addresses in official payroll records, while their salaries were paid into bank accounts belonging to other 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 said.
Aliyu said payroll fraud could extend beyond salaries, as fictitious employees could also become beneficiaries of pension, mortgage, housing fund and health insurance schemes.
The ICPC Chairman said the commission recovered more than N24 billion in suspected ghost workers’ pension funds in 2024.
“Because, you know, once there is a ghost worker, there is a ghost pension, there is a ghost mortgage, there is a ghost housing fund, there is ghost health insurance,” he said.
“In 2024, we recovered over N24 billion ghost workers pension.”
Aliyu said the commission was strengthening collaboration with other government agencies and adopting preventive measures to curb corruption and recover public resources.
He said the ICPC was increasingly focusing on corruption prevention and ensuring that government projects were properly executed, rather than relying solely on criminal prosecution.
“It is better for us to do that than to engage in filing criminal charges. How many charges can we file?” he said.
The ICPC Chairman said the objective was to ensure that Nigerians received value for government expenditure.
He also called for greater use of data and technology in combating corruption, saying reliable information and effective communication were necessary to strengthen public confidence in anti-corruption efforts.
