WorldStage– The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered a massive public payroll fraud scheme where a single government official enrolled 14 of his family members as ghost workers to illegally collect multiple salaries.
ICPC Chairman, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, announced the discovery at the 2026 Economic Confidential Lecture and National Spokespersons Award in Abuja.
The official allegedly manipulated government payroll systems to insert fictitious profiles of his relatives, personal e-mails, and alternative details, while directing all payments into his own bank accounts.
He reportedly lived in a public office hotel while collecting these funds.
Investigators also exposed another official who enrolled his wife, son, daughter, and other relatives to single-handedly pocket 13 separate salaries.
The breakthroughs follow a year-long, data-driven investigation into civil service payroll systems, with the commission recently identifying 908 ghost workers across 50 federal ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), and recovering over ₦942 million.
The ICPC has focused heavily on preventative data-driven actions rather than retroactive trials, leading to the recovery of over ₦24 billion linked strictly to fraudulent ghost-worker pension deductions.The Commission has published the names of about 900 suspected ghost workers, challenging them to step forward and prove they are genuine government employees.
