The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered 908 suspected ghost workers across at least 50 Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and recovered around N942 million allegedly disbursed as fake salaries during a payroll verification exercise.
This was disclosed by the chairman of ICPC, Musa Aliyu, stating that investigations began in 2024 and adding that ghost workers are names of non-existent individuals illegally inserted into government payroll systems.
According to him, some senior government officials allegedly enrol family members and associates on government payrolls while diverting the payments.
He also said among the 50 MDAs with ghost workers, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) recorded the highest amount, with 570 suspected ghost workers, while the National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) was second with 80 ghost workers and the Federal Ministry of Works recorded 56 ghost workers.
Speaking further, he said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had 24, the Ministry of Defence had 19, while both the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment had 17 each.
More details later.