Tinubu orders IPPIS audit to phase out ghost workers, reduce cost of governance

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a comprehensive forensic audit of the Federal Government’s systems, including the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), ministries and federal agencies, as part of efforts to identify payroll fraud, strengthen accountability and reduce leakages in public spending.

The directive was disclosed in a statement issued on Friday, August 28, by the president’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga.

Under the directive, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, will oversee and coordinate the exercise, which follows a resolution of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on August 19, 2026.

The audit was prompted by findings attributed to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) concerning ‘fake agencies,’ ghost workers and other weaknesses in government control systems.

According to the presidency, the exercise will determine the nature and extent of weaknesses within government systems and establish how such weaknesses may have been exploited to gain access to public resources.

IPPIS, payroll, pension systems targeted

The first component of the audit will focus on IPPIS and related payroll, personnel, pension and financial-management platforms.

READ ALSO: N10trn vanishes yearly: How employee fraud is bleeding Nigeria’s MSMEs

The government said the exercise would investigate reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud, reconcile figures identified by the ICPC, trace how fictitious or ineligible persons were enrolled and examine identity, biometric and bank-account controls.

It will also examine the connections between IPPIS and other government platforms, including the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Sub-TSA.

The presidency said the review would determine whether identified irregularities arose from system defects, procedural failures, inadequate separation of duties or deliberate circumvention of controls.

Audit to cover federal agencies

The second component will extend beyond payroll to all federal government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies.

The government said the audit would establish a definitive inventory of such entities and verify their legal basis, while also examining how organisations obtain official recognition, budgetary consideration, office facilities and access to government systems.

Governance, procurement, internal audit and oversight mechanisms across government will also come under scrutiny.

The presidency said the exercise is intended to close systemic loopholes that could enable irregular entities or individuals to access public resources.

It further directed that the exercise be conducted with the highest standards of independence, professionalism and forensic integrity.

The audit team will have access to relevant government systems and records and will collaborate with the ICPC to ensure that the exercise complements ongoing investigations, prosecutions and recoveries.

The president expects the exercise to go beyond identifying individual cases of fraud or administrative failure and instead strengthen the overall architecture of government, improve data verification and reconciliation, reinforce accountability and ensure that only legally constituted entities and eligible personnel have access to public resources.

The presidency described the initiative as part of Tinubu’s commitment to transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity.

Expert view: Audit must go beyond biometric verification

Reacting to the development, former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reform, Dr Joe Abah, OON, described the forensic audit as an important first step but cautioned that biometric verification alone would not address the broader structural problems within Nigeria’s public sector.

Abah argued that the exercise should not stop at identifying ghost workers through biometric verification. According to him, the government should conduct a comprehensive audit of ministries, departments, agencies, commissions and extra-ministerial bodies.

READ ALSO: Ethical deficit: Why Nigeria’s corporate governance is failing at the top

The internationally recognised expert in governance and institutional reforms, political economy analysis and change management, recalled that while in government, officials had identified cases where private-sector companies involved in managing IPPIS were allegedly creating ghost workers. He also said officials discovered instances where some genuine public servants were receiving multiple salaries.

Abah noted that linking payroll records with the Bank Verification Number (BVN) system could help establish who is actually receiving multiple salaries, subject to cooperation from the banks.

He further recommended that the government follow the biometric audit with a comprehensive review of federal agencies, commissions and extra-ministerial bodies, pointing to the Oronsaye Report as an earlier attempt to address the proliferation of government entities.

According to him, the government should determine which agencies should be merged or scrapped and identify those that ought to generate revenue rather than continually depend on government funding.

He also proposed checking with the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to establish the number of people for whom the Federal Government is paying contributory pensions.

On possible workforce reductions, Abah advised that such measures should come only after the audits and should initially involve voluntary redundancy and incentives for workers willing to leave.

He also stressed the importance of involving organised labour throughout the process, arguing that unions would be more likely to support reforms if they could see that reducing personnel costs would enable government to improve remuneration for those who remain.

“Biometric verification is an important first step to reducing the cost of governance but it is only a first (and easy) step,” Abah said, stressing the need for the government to address the deeper institutional and structural weaknesses identified by the audit.

His position broadly aligns with the Federal Government’s stated intention to make the exercise extend beyond individual cases of fraud and address systemic weaknesses across government.