ICPC exposes official who enrolled 14 family members on govt payroll

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has uncovered a government official who enrolled 14 family members as ghost workers to receive multiple salaries, according to Punch Newspapers.

ICPC Chairman Musa Aliyu disclosed this at the 2026 Economic Confidential Lecture in Abuja, revealing another official collected 13 salaries through relatives. The commission identified about 900 suspected ghost workers, publishing their names publicly, and spent a year investigating fraudulent payroll insertions where names, emails and mismatched bank accounts exposed the scheme.

Aliyu said ICPC recovered over N24 billion in ghost pension funds in 2024, warning that such fraud also generates ghost pensions, housing and health insurance benefits.