The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has identified the Nigeria Police Force and five federal ministries and agencies as having the highest number of suspected fake workers uncovered during its payroll verification exercise.
ICPC Chairman, Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN), disclosed the findings while speaking on the commission’s investigation into payroll fraud across federal government institutions, according to a BBC Pidgin report on Wednesday.
The commission said it discovered suspected 908 ghost workers in at least 50 ministries, departments and agencies, recovering about N942 million allegedly paid as fraudulent salaries.
According to the ICPC, ghost workers are fictitious names inserted into government payrolls to receive salaries fraudulently. In some cases, salaries are allegedly diverted by officials who add relatives or associates to the payroll despite them not being employed.
Aliyu said investigators uncovered one case involving a man who allegedly placed the names of his wife, son and mother-in-law on the payroll while also collecting the salaries of 12 workers.
Among the institutions identified, the Nigeria Police Force recorded the highest number of suspected fake workers.
“For this operation, we identified 570 people whom we suspect are among the fake workers collecting salaries without working,” the ICPC chairman said about the police data.
