ICPC Secures Final Forfeiture of ₦941.9 million Traced to IPPIS Ghost Workers

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has secured a court order for the final forfeiture of ₦941,994,079.86 linked to a massive payroll fraud involving suspected ghost workers on the federal government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.

Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja granted the order on Friday following an ex-parte application by the ICPC. The money, found in 467 bank accounts, was traced to fictitious workers across multiple Ministries, Departments and Agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force.

In a statement on Saturday, ICPC’s Head of Media and Public Communications, John Okor Odey, said the ruling marked a major step in the Commission’s crackdown on payroll fraud.

—How the fraud was uncovered—

The discovery followed a systems study conducted by the ICPC in 2023, which flagged numerous “ghost workers” embedded in the payrolls of MDAs.

Acting on the findings, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved a comprehensive audit of IPPIS. In April 2024, the ICPC launched a joint investigation with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. That probe uncovered 587 suspected ghost workers.

Investigators found that fictitious IPPIS identities had been created for non-existent personnel. Salaries were paid over long periods into accounts belonging to individuals and companies, and in many cases the account names did not match the purported employees. Some accounts received multiple salary payments at the same time.

Between August and November 2024, the Commission placed Post No Debit restrictions on all the identified accounts, freezing funds suspected to be proceeds of fraud.

—MDAs affected—

The affected institutions cut across security, education and core ministries. They include the Nigeria Police Force, Federal Ministries of Defence, Education, Agriculture and Rural Development, Works, Water Resources, and Interior.

Universities named in the report include University of Benin, University of Calabar, University of Nigeria Nsukka, University of Maiduguri, and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. Others are the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies and even the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

—Court process and next steps—

In March 2026, in line with a court directive, the ICPC published the names of 910 individuals suspected to have benefited from the scheme in Daily Trust and The Nation newspapers.

A verification exercise carried out in 2025 cleared 120 civil servants whose identities were confirmed. They were reinstated on the IPPIS platform.

However, 467 accounts remain linked to unverified individuals whose identities are yet to be established. The ₦941.9 million in those accounts was the subject of the forfeiture case.

ICPC Prosecution Counsel, Hamza Sani, told the court that detailed records of the affected accounts — including IPPIS numbers, names of purported workers, and banking details of beneficiaries — were compiled as evidence.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Nyako said: “That an Order is hereby made for the Final Forfeiture to the Federal Republic of Nigeria the Sum of ₦941,994,079.86 seized during investigation into the IPPIS Payroll scam in the year 2024.”

Odey said the Commission remains committed to using the law to promote transparency and good governance.

The IPPIS platform was introduced to centralize payroll and eliminate fraud, but the case has renewed calls for tighter controls and real-time audits across government payroll systems.