The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered alleged payroll fraud involving an official who enrolled 14 family members as government workers.
The commission also found another person who allegedly enrolled his wife, children and other relatives and received 13 salaries.
ICPC Chairman, 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 investigations into ghost workers showed how people manipulated government payroll systems to collect multiple salaries.
“We discovered that one person enrolled 14 members of his family,” he said.
He said about 900 suspected ghost workers had been identified and their names published, challenging them to prove they were genuine employees.
Aliyu said the investigation lasted about a year and exposed how fake names were added to government payrolls.
“In some cases, 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 another person. So, that is how these things have been done,” he explained.
He warned that ghost workers could also result in fraudulent pensions, mortgages, housing funds and health insurance.
“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.
Aliyu said the commission recovered more than N24 billion in ghost pension funds in 2024.
He added that the ICPC was focusing more on preventing corruption and protecting public funds through interventions rather than relying only on prosecution.
“It is better for us to do that than to engage in filing criminal charges. How many charges can we file?” he asked.
He said the commission had recovered or protected government resources through interventions in projects and other areas, with the main goal of ensuring Nigerians benefit from public spending.
The ICPC chairman also urged greater use of data and technology to fight corruption, saying reliable information was key to building public trust in anti-corruption efforts.
