Tinubu orders forensic audit of IPPIS, federal agencies over ghost workers, fake entities

By Egena Sunday Ode

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive forensic audit of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS, and all federal government agencies and ministries, citing widespread control failures including ghost workers and “fake agencies.”

The directive was contained in a State House press release signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Friday.

According to the statement, the President mandated the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, to oversee and coordinate the exercise. The move follows a Federal Executive Council resolution adopted on August 19, 2026, after findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC.

According to the statement, the audit will be carried out in two parts.

First, a forensic review of government financial and personnel systems with a focus on IPPIS and related payroll, pension and financial-management platforms. The team will investigate reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud, reconcile figures flagged by the ICPC, and trace how fictitious or ineligible persons were enrolled. It will also review access, identity, biometric and bank-account controls.

The probe will extend to system interfaces between IPPIS and GIFMIS, Remita, the Treasury Single Account, TSA, and Sub-TSA to determine whether fraud arose from system defects, process failures, weak segregation of duties, or deliberate circumvention.

Second, the audit will cover all federal government agencies, departments, commissions, councils and parastatals.

The goal is to produce a definitive inventory of such bodies, verify their legal basis, and examine how they obtain official recognition, budgetary allocation, correspondence privileges, office facilities and access to government systems.

The statement said the exercise will also assess governance, procurement, internal audit and oversight controls across government to close loopholes that allow irregular entities or persons to access public resources.

President Tinubu directed that the audit be conducted with “the highest standards of independence, professionalism and forensic integrity.” The audit team will have access to relevant government records and will work with the ICPC to complement ongoing investigations, prosecutions and asset recoveries.

The President said the exercise is expected to go beyond identifying individual cases of fraud by strengthening the architecture of government, improving data verification and reconciliation, and ensuring that only duly constituted entities and eligible personnel have access to public resources.

“The exercise underscores the President’s commitment to strengthening transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity across the Federal Government,” the statement said.