Fake agencies, ghost workers: Tinubu approves forensic audit of IPPIS, Ministries, Agencies

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has tasked the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to oversee and coordinate a comprehensive forensic audit of the Federal Government’s systems.

The audit will include a review of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), federal government agencies and their administration and internal controls.

President Tinubu’s directive follows the resolution of the Federal Executive Council of August 19, 2026, in response to the findings of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) on “bogus agencies”, ghost workers and other screening failures.

The exercise will establish the nature and extent of weaknesses in the government’s control system and determine how those weaknesses were exploited.

The review will include two interconnected components.

The first will focus on a forensic audit of government systems, in particular IPPIS and its payroll, staffing, pensions and financial management platforms. It will examine reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud, reconcile figures identified by the ICPC, trace how fictitious or ineligible people were signed up and examine access, identity, biometrics and bank account controls.

The exercise will also examine the interfaces between IPPIS and other government platforms, including GIFMIS, Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA), and Sub-TSA, to determine whether fraud arises from system flaws, process errors, inadequate segregation of duties, or deliberate circumvention.

The second component of the audit will cover all federal government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies. It will establish a definitive inventory of such bodies and verify their legal basis, while examining how the bodies obtain official recognition, budgetary consideration, correspondence privileges, office facilities and access to government systems.

The exercise will assess governance, procurement, internal audit and supervisory controls across government to address systemic weaknesses that could allow irregular entities or individuals to access public resources.

President Tinubu 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. It will work with the ICPC to ensure the review integrates all ongoing investigations, prosecutions and recoveries.

President Tinubu expects the operation to go beyond identifying individual cases of fraud or administrative failure by strengthening government architecture, eliminating systemic gaps, improving data verification and reconciliation, strengthening accountability and ensuring that only duly constituted entities and appropriate personnel have access to government resources.

The exercise underscores the President’s commitment to strengthening transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity across the federal government.

*Bayo Onanuga
Special Advisor to the President
(Information and strategy)