Police Top ICPC’s Ghost Worker List as 908 Fake Names Uncovered on Federal Payroll
By Victor Idajili
The Nigeria Police Force leads a list of government institutions caught with suspected ghost workers, as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission says it has uncovered 908 fake names across 50 federal MDAs.
ICPC Chairman, Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN), revealed this on Wednesday while speaking on the commission’s ongoing payroll fraud investigation, according to a BBC Pidgin report.
According to the ICPC, ghost workers are people who do not exist or do not work for government but whose names are on the payroll to siphon salaries. In some cases, officials are said to have inserted relatives and associates, then collect the money themselves.
The commission said the fraud has cost the government about N942 million in fraudulent salary payments so far.
The Nigeria Police Force recorded the highest number with 570 suspected fake workers.
“This is the highest we found in any single institution,” Aliyu said.
Other top offenders include,National Water Resources Authority, 80 suspected ghost workers.Federal Ministry of Work 56.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs 24,Ministry of Defence 19,Ministries of Electricity, and Industry, Trade & Investment 17 each.
Federal Ministry of Health15,Office of the Head of Civil Service*: 12
The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Interior were also named, but the ICPC did not state how many suspected ghost workers were found there.
Aliyu gave an example of one civil servant who allegedly put his wife, son and mother-in-law on the payroll, and was also collecting salaries meant for 12 other workers.
“The names don’t belong to real workers. In some cases, they are relatives of staff who are paid every month for doing nothing,” he explained.
The ICPC says the verification exercise is part of a wider push to clean up the federal payroll and block leakages in public finance.
The commission added that investigations are ongoing and those found culpable will be prosecuted, while steps are being taken to remove all the fake names and recover more money.
