The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered a massive ghost-worker and payroll manipulation scheme in which a government official allegedly enrolled 14 members of his family on the public payroll and collected their salaries.
Musa Aliyu, the ICPC chairman, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja while delivering the keynote address at the 2026 Economic Confidential Lecture and National Spokespersons Award organised by Image Merchants Promotions Limited.
Aliyu said the discovery was made during a year-long investigation by the commission into suspected ghost workers, payroll fraud and manipulation across government institutions.
According to him, investigators uncovered cases in which public officials allegedly exploited weaknesses in government payroll systems to insert relatives and other individuals as fictitious employees, allowing salaries and other employment-related benefits to be diverted.
The ICPC chairman said one of the cases involved an official who allegedly enrolled 14 members of his family on the government payroll and personally collected the salaries paid to them.
