President Bola Tinubu ordered a comprehensive forensic audit of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and federal agencies on August 28. The directive follows Federal Executive Council resolutions responding to Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission findings on ghost workers and fake entities.
The Nigerian government is launching a sweeping financial and administrative investigation following a widening scandal involving ghost workers, salary fraud, and fictitious institutions. Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele has been directed to oversee and coordinate the multi-layered review.
Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga announced the directive, which formalizes an audit approved by the Federal Executive Council on August 19. The intervention stems directly from investigations conducted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that uncovered significant structural vulnerabilities across public payroll platforms and administrative bodies.
Forensic Review of Payroll Systems and Ghost Worker Networks
The first component of the audit targets the technological and administrative infrastructure underpinning public service compensation. Investigators will scrutinize the IPPIS alongside related personnel, pension, and financial management platforms to trace how ineligible individuals infiltrated government payrolls.
Recent investigations by the ICPC exposed deep vulnerabilities within these networks. The commission uncovered 908 suspected ghost workers distributed across at least 50 federal ministries, departments, and agencies, leading to the recovery of roughly N942 million in illicitly disbursed salaries.
“The first will focus on a forensic audit of government systems, particularly IPPIS and related payroll, personnel, pension and financial-management platforms. It will examine reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud, reconcile the figures identified by the ICPC, trace how fictitious or ineligible persons were enrolled, and review access, identity, biometric and bank-account controls.”
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy)
Beyond the core payroll database, the audit will examine digital interfaces connecting IPPIS with auxiliary financial architecture. These platforms include the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA), and Sub-TSA accounts. Investigators will determine whether the fraudulent payouts stemmed from software defects, flawed internal processes, inadequate segregation of duties, or deliberate circumvention of security controls.
Inventory of Government Agencies and Fake Institution Scrutiny
The second pillar of the presidential directive expands the investigation to cover all federal ministries, departments, commissions, councils, and parastatals. The audit team will establish a definitive inventory of these bodies, verify their legal mandates, and examine how unverified entities obtained official recognition, office space, budgetary consideration, and correspondence privileges.
This phase of the review follows mounting national attention on fraudulent entities operating within the apparatus of government.
Institutional Accountability and Next Steps for the Audit Team
“President Tinubu expects the exercise to go beyond identifying individual cases of fraud or administrative failure by strengthening the architecture of Government, closing systemic loopholes, improving data verification and reconciliation, reinforcing accountability, and ensuring that only duly constituted entities and eligible personnel have access to Government resources.”
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy)
