The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has identified 908 suspected ghost workers across at least 50 federal ministries, departments and agencies, recovering approximately N942 million allegedly paid out as fraudulent salaries during a payroll verification exercise.
In the report, the Nigeria Police Force, recorded the highest number of ghost staff numbering 570, followed by National Water Resources Authority, which recorded the second highest tally with 80 fake workers; the Ministry of Defence, had 19 people collecting salary even though they are not workers of the ministry. Likewise, the Federal Ministry of Works recorded 56 fake workers, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had 24.
The Federal Ministry of Electricity and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment each recorded 17 fake workers, while the Federal Ministry of Health had 15 and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had 12, etc.
BBC Pidgin report on Wednesday that the ICPC Chairman Musa Adamu Aliyu disclosed the findings during the commission’s investigation into payroll fraud across federal government institutions.
He disclosed one particularly egregious case in which a single individual allegedly placed the names of his wife, son and mother-in-law on the payroll while also collecting the salaries of 12 workers, a level of abuse that went undetected until the commission’s verification exercise.
