Ghost workers: Tinubu orders forensic audit of IPPIS, FG agencies

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President Bola Tinubu has directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to oversee a comprehensive forensic audit of Federal Government systems, including the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.

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The directive was contained in a statement signed by the president’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Friday.

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According to the statement, the audit will cover IPPIS, Federal Government agencies and their administration and internal controls.

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The directive followed the Federal Executive Council’s resolution of August 19, 2026, in response to findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission on “fake agencies”, ghost workers and other control failures.

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The statement said the exercise “will establish the nature and extent of weaknesses in Government’s control system, and determine how such weaknesses have been exploited.”

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The audit will comprise two interconnected components.

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The first will focus on a forensic audit of Government systems, particularly IPPIS and related payroll, personnel, pension and financial-management platforms.

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According to the statement, 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.”

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The exercise will also examine the interfaces between IPPIS and other government platforms, including GIFMIS, Remita, the Treasury Single Account and Sub-Treasury Account.

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It will determine “whether fraud resulted from system defects, process failures, inadequate segregation of duties or deliberate circumvention.”

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The second component of the audit will cover all Federal Government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies.

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The statement said the exercise would “establish a definitive inventory of such bodies and verify their legal basis,” while examining how entities obtain official recognition, budgetary consideration, correspondence privileges, office facilities and access to government systems.

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It will also assess governance, procurement, internal-audit and oversight controls across government “to close systemic weaknesses that could allow irregular entities or persons to access public resources.”

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Tinubu directed that the exercise be conducted “with the highest standards of independence, professionalism and forensic integrity.”

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The statement added that the audit team would have access to relevant government systems and records and would collaborate with the ICPC to ensure that the review complements ongoing investigations, prosecutions and recoveries.

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According to Onanuga, Tinubu expects the exercise to “go beyond identifying individual cases of fraud or administrative failure.”

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The statement said the audit would focus on “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.”

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The exercise, the statement added, “underscores the President’s commitment to strengthening transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity across the Federal Government.”

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