By Ologeh Joseph Chibu
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has emerged as the most implicated institution in a recent investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), which uncovered over 12,000 ‘ghost workers’ on the Federal Government’s payroll.
The Government institutions are guilty of paying ghost workers, making double payments to same officials and pocketing funds meant for deaf officials or people that do not exist.
The ICPC identified a total of 22,074 suspicious personnel across various Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), and tertiary institutions. According to a report first published by The Daily Sun, the NPF had the highest number of fraudulent entries.
Irohinoodua further findings indicated that the crime has been going on for decades meaning Nigerian has lost billions of cash to institutions expected to lead the fight against corruption in the first place.
The financial impact of these 12,174 personnel is staggering, with an estimated loss of N34.8 billion. Despite the implementation of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), last year, the government disbursed N37.1 billion to these suspicious employees.
This revelation came as a result of a comprehensive review of the IPPIS conducted by the ICPC as part of an anti-corruption initiative under President Bola Tinubu’s administration. The report highlighted that 12,714 personnel listed on the payroll were not included in the service-wide nominal roll from January to December of the previous year.
Investigators found that the IPPIS system had been tampered with, manipulated, and allegedly padded with ghost workers and other suspicious personnel. Specifically, the NPF had 4,190 former officers still receiving salaries through the IPPIS payroll.
The commission stated, “The general overview of the Nominal Roll and Payroll of MDAs furnished by IPPIS and subjected to an analysis established a quantum disparity of 12, 174 personnel between the two parameters (nominal roll and payroll) used in the analysis.”
“The said 12,174 personnel were visibly on the payroll but not on the service wide nominal roll between January and December 2023.”
“The monetary value of the 12, 174 personnel is put at N34,808,740,634.37within the period under review. Included in the service wide disparity between the payroll and the nominal roll were the specific discoveries made from some MDAs used as a pilot scheme.”
“But the fraud was allegedly more entrenched in the Nigeria Police Force with thousands of ex-employees on the payroll.”
The ICPC uncovered numerous instances of fraud within the IPPIS payrolls of MDAs and the NPF, including double salary payments, fictitious names, fake identities used to embezzle public funds, dual IPPIS accounts, and the presence of ghost workers.
In one example, 95 personnel across various MDAs were listed on both the payroll and nominal roll, but discrepancies arose when their identities were verified through banking applications. Among these suspicious beneficiaries, eight shared the same family name, and one individual was linked to two different IPPIS accounts.
Additionally, 24 workers from about 20 MDAs were reportedly receiving double salaries from their agencies, and sometimes from other sources as well. In another case, 212 officers at the Ministry of Works, with a combined monthly salary of N31.9 million, were found to be absent from both the ministry’s nominal roll and the service-wide nominal roll of IPPIS.
The ICPC’s analysis revealed a significant disparity of 12,174 personnel between the nominal roll and payroll. These individuals were on the payroll but not on the service-wide nominal roll between January and December 2023.
The report highlighted that the NPF was particularly affected, with thousands of ex-employees still on the payroll. An analysis of the NPF payroll for December 2023 showed that out of 350,028 names on the nominal roll, 37,160 were described as “ex-employees,” with 37,129 listed as “inactive” and 31 categorized as “active.”
Furthermore, 4,190 ex-employees were found to have received salaries amounting to N980.3 million in December 2023. While 3,228 of these ex-employees had consistent records across all validation parameters, the remaining 962 had inconsistencies between their names, IPPIS numbers, and account numbers.
This alarming discovery underscores the need for more stringent oversight and reforms in the payroll systems of government agencies to prevent further financial losses.
