By By Elizabeth Ugbo
A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of N941,994,079.86 linked to suspected ghost workers uncovered in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). Justice Binta Nyako delivered the ruling following an application by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). The judgment, announced on Saturday, hands the recovered funds to the Federal Government after investigations exposed a large-scale payroll fraud involving fake public servants across several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Court Grants Final Forfeiture Order
Justice Binta Nyako granted the final forfeiture order after considering an application filed by the ICPC.
In the ruling, the judge stated:
“That an Order is hereby made for the Final Forfeiture to the Federal Republic of Nigeria the Sum of N941,994,079.86 seized during investigation into the IPPIS Payroll scam in the year 2024.”
The decision marks another major step in the Federal Government’s efforts to eliminate payroll fraud in the public service.
ICPC Uncovers Massive Payroll Fraud
The ICPC disclosed the development through a statement issued by its spokesperson, Demola Bakare, on behalf of the Commission, quoting Director of Public Enlightenment and Education, Okor Odey.
According to Odey, investigators uncovered a widespread payroll fraud after reviewing the IPPIS platform in 2023.
The investigation revealed hundreds of ghost workers embedded in the payrolls of several MDAs.
Following the findings, President Bola Tinubu approved a comprehensive audit of the payroll system.
Joint Investigation Exposes Ghost Workers
Furthermore, a joint investigation by the ICPC and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation in April 2025 uncovered 587 suspected ghost workers on the IPPIS platform.
According to the commission, fraudsters created fictitious IPPIS identities for non-existent employees.
The fake workers received salaries over several years through bank accounts belonging to individuals and companies.
Investigators also found that many account names differed from the names of the supposed employees.
In addition, some bank accounts received multiple salary payments simultaneously.
As a result, the ICPC immediately placed Post No Debit (PND) restrictions on all identified accounts to prevent further withdrawals.
MDAs Affected by the Scam
The commission said the fraud affected several Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
They include:
- Nigeria Police Force (NPF)
- Federal Ministry of Defence
- Federal Ministry of Education
- Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
- Federal Ministry of Works
- Federal Ministry of Water Resources
- Federal Ministry of Interior
- National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies
- University of Benin
- University of Calabar
- University of Nigeria, Nsukka
- University of Maiduguri
- Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
- Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation
Verification Clears 120 Civil Servants
Meanwhile, Odey explained that a verification exercise conducted in 2025 confirmed the identities and employment status of 120 civil servants.
However, investigators could not verify 467 bank accounts linked to unidentified individuals.
The commission said those accounts held N941.9 million, which the court has now forfeited to the Federal Government.
ICPC Published Names of Suspects
The ICPC also disclosed that it published the names of 910 suspected beneficiaries of the alleged payroll fraud in two national newspapers on March 18, 2026.
The publication formed part of efforts to identify those connected to the suspected fraud and recover public funds.
What is IPPIS?
The Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) is a centralized payroll platform introduced by the Federal Government to manage salary payments and personnel records of federal public servants.
The system aims to eliminate payroll fraud, improve transparency and prevent the payment of salaries to ghost workers.
