- Safiu Kehinde
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has revealed how a government official allegedly enrolled 14 members of his family on the public payroll in a major ghost-worker scheme uncovered by the commission.
ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN) made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja.
While delivering the keynote address at the 2026 Economic Confidential Lecture and National Spokespersons Awards organised by Image Merchants Promotions Limited, Aliyu said the discovery was made during a year-long investigation into suspected ghost workers and payroll manipulation across government institutions.
According to him, one official whose name was not disclosed allegedly enrolled 14 relatives on the payroll and collected their salaries.
Another person enrolled his wife, daughter, son and other family members, enabling him to receive 13 salaries.
“We discovered that one person enrolled 14 members of his family. He lived in a religious hotel, a hotel at the public office, receiving salaries.
“Another individual enrolled his wife, his daughter, his son, and others and was receiving 13 salaries.” He said.
According to reports, investigators also uncovered sophisticated methods of manipulating payroll records.
This included cases where the names and email addresses of supposed employees appeared in official databases while the bank accounts linked to them belonged to other individuals.
“When they insert their names, you will see their name in the payroll.
“You will see their email. But when you check the account number, you will see the name of the person. So, that is how these things have been done,” Aliyu explained.
The ICPC boss further disclosed that the commission had identified about 900 suspected ghost workers and published their names to allow those affected to prove that they were genuine government employees.
He warned that payroll fraud could have wider financial implications beyond salaries, as fictitious employees could also generate fraudulent pension, mortgage, housing fund and health insurance benefits.