THE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it has uncovered 908 fake workers across several federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in a payroll fraud scheme allegedly involving the diversion of hundreds of millions of naira.
News Point Nigeria reports that the anti-graft agency said it recovered about N942 million allegedly linked to fraudulent salary payments made to the fictitious employees.
According to BBC Pidgin, Chairman of the ICPC, Musa Aliyu, disclosed that the discovery followed an investigation launched by the commission in 2024 after it detected irregularities in pension payments.
The commission described fake workers as individuals whose names are fraudulently inserted into government payroll systems despite not being legitimate employees of the affected institutions.
Aliyu said the investigation uncovered instances where some senior officials allegedly enrolled relatives and associates on government payrolls and diverted the salaries meant for those workers for personal benefit.
He disclosed that investigators discovered a case involving a suspect who allegedly inserted the names of his wife, son and mother-in-law into the payroll system while also collecting the salaries of 12 other workers.
The ICPC chairman said the investigation covered at least 50 ministries, departments and agencies, with some institutions recording significantly higher numbers of suspected fake workers than others.
According to him, the Nigeria Police Force recorded the highest number of suspected fake workers, with 570 names identified on its payroll.
Aliyu said the National Water Resources Authority had 80 suspected fake workers, while the Federal Ministry of Works recorded 56.
He added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had 24 suspected fake workers, while the Ministry of Defence recorded 19.
The Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment each had 17 suspected fake workers, while the Federal Ministry of Health recorded 15.
The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation was also listed among the institutions affected, with 12 suspected fake workers uncovered.
The ICPC chairman further disclosed that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Interior were among other agencies where suspected fake workers were identified.
However, he did not disclose the number of affected names discovered in those institutions, saying investigations into the cases were still ongoing.
The commission said the findings formed part of its continued efforts to tackle corruption, payroll manipulation and financial leakages within government institutions.