President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive forensic audit of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), Federal Government agencies and other government systems following concerns over ghost workers, fake agencies and weaknesses in internal controls.
The President directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to oversee and coordinate the exercise.
The directive followed a resolution of the Federal Executive Council on August 19, 2026, in response to findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on alleged fake agencies, ghost workers and other control failures within the Federal Government.
According to a statement issued on Friday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the audit will determine the nature and extent of weaknesses in the government’s control systems and establish how such loopholes may have been exploited.
The exercise will have two major components.
The first component will focus on a forensic audit of government systems, particularly IPPIS and related payroll, personnel, pension 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 persons were enrolled and review access, identity, biometric and bank-account controls.
The audit will also examine the interfaces between IPPIS and other government platforms, including the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Sub-TSA.
The review will seek to determine whether identified fraud resulted from system defects, process failures, inadequate segregation of duties or deliberate circumvention of established controls.
The second component will cover all Federal Government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies.
The exercise is expected to establish a definitive inventory of such entities and verify their legal basis, while examining how they obtain official recognition, budgetary consideration, correspondence privileges, office facilities and access to government systems.
It will also assess governance, procurement, internal audit and oversight mechanisms across the Federal Government, with the aim of closing systemic weaknesses that could enable 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 and will collaborate with the ICPC to ensure that the exercise complements ongoing investigations, prosecutions and recoveries.
The President, according to the statement, expects the audit to go beyond identifying individual cases of fraud or administrative failure by strengthening government systems, closing systemic loopholes, improving data verification and reconciliation, reinforcing accountability and ensuring that only duly constituted entities and eligible personnel have access to government resources.
The exercise, the statement added, underscores Tinubu’s commitment to strengthening transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity across the Federal Government.
