President Bola Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive forensic audit of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), Federal Government agencies, ministries and other government systems following revelations of fake agencies, ghost workers and control failures.
The President directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to oversee and coordinate the exercise, according to a statement on Friday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Onanuga said 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 fake agencies, ghost workers and other weaknesses in government controls.
The first component of the exercise will focus on IPPIS and related payroll, personnel, pension and financial-management platforms. It will investigate reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud, reconcile figures identified by the ICPC and determine how fictitious or ineligible persons were enrolled in government systems.
The audit will also examine links between IPPIS and other government platforms, including the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Sub-TSA, to determine whether identified fraud resulted from system defects, process failures, weak segregation of duties or deliberate circumvention.
The second component will cover all Federal Government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other bodies, with a view to establishing a definitive inventory and verifying their legal status. It will also examine how government entities obtain official recognition, budgetary consideration, correspondence privileges, office facilities and access to government systems.
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Tinubu directed that the exercise be conducted with independence, professionalism and forensic integrity, with the audit team granted access to relevant government systems and records. The team will work with the ICPC to complement ongoing investigations, prosecutions and recoveries, while identifying and closing systemic loopholes that allow irregular entities and ineligible personnel access to public resources.
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