The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has identified 22,074 suspicious personnel on the Federal Government’s payroll.
This is despite the implementation of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
The commission found that last year, the government disbursed N37,103,337,614.40 to these suspicious employees.
These personnel were found across various Ministries, Departments, Agencies, tertiary institutions, and notably, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), which was allegedly the most implicated.
In the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), there were 12,714 personnel listed on the payroll who were not included in the service-wide nominal roll from January to December of last year.
The total financial impact of these 12,174 personnel was estimated at N34,808,740,634.37.
Additionally, approximately 4,190 former police officers were found on the IPPIS payroll.
These findings were shown in a report that resulted from a comprehensive review of the IPPIS conducted by the commission as part of the anti-corruption system assessment initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Investigators have revealed that the IPPIS has been subjected to tampering, manipulation, and alleged padding with ghost workers or suspicious personnel.
According to investigators from the ICPC, numerous instances of fraud have been identified in the IPPIS payrolls of the Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
Corrupt practices observed in 20 MDAs include double salary payments, inclusion of fictitious names on the IPPIS, the use of fake identities to embezzle public funds, the operation of two IPPIS accounts, and the presence of ghost workers.
For example, approximately 95 personnel across various MDAs were found to have names listed on both the payroll and the nominal roll, yet discrepancies arose when their identities were verified through banking applications.
Among these 95 suspicious beneficiaries, eight share the same family name, and one individual is connected to two different IPPIS accounts.
Twenty-four workers from approximately 20 MDAs were reportedly receiving double salaries from their respective agencies, and in some cases, from additional sources.
At the Ministry of Works, 212 officers listed on the IPPIS payroll, with a combined monthly salary amounting to N31,986,324.40, were found to be absent from both the ministry’s nominal roll and the service-wide nominal roll of IPPIS.
The commission said: “The general overview of the Nominal Roll and Payroll of MDAs furnished by IPPIS and subjected to an analysis established a quantum disparity of 12, 174 personnel between the two parameters (nominal roll and payroll) used in the analysis.
“The said 12,174 personnel were visibly on the payroll but not on the service wide nominal roll between January and December 2023,
“The monetary value of the 12, 174 personnel is put at N34,808,740,634.37within the period under review. Included in the service wide disparity between the payroll and the nominal roll were the specific discoveries made from some MDAs used as a pilot scheme.”
“But the fraud was allegedly more entrenched in the Nigeria Police Force with thousands of ex-employees on the payroll.
The report added: “The analysis of NPF payroll focused on December 2023 nominal and payroll obtained from IPPIS for the purpose of comparison. The nominal and payroll have populated names of 350,028 and 312,047 respectively.
“It was discovered on the nominal roll that 37, 160 staff were described as “ex-employees. However, on the same nominal roll spreadsheet, 37,129 were described as “inactive” whilst the balance of 31 staff were also categorized as having “Active” status.
“Furthermore, 4,190 staff of NPF, described as “ex-employees” were found on the payroll of IPPIS to have received December 2023 salary amounting to N980,273,690.51.
“It was discovered that 3, 228 of the 4, 190 have their records consistent in all parameters used for validation on the payroll such as the names, IPPIS numbers and account numbers.
“Conversely, the account numbers of the remainder 962 staff were compared with that on the payroll and the findings revealed that the names of staff and bank names were inconsistent.
“It was also discovered that none of the IPPIS numbers of the aforementioned number of staff on the payroll was found on the nominal roll.
“Further analysis revealed that the names, IPPIS numbers and account numbers of 20 staff , who were not on the nominal roll, were found on the payroll given by IPPIS amounting to payment of N5,585, 256.13.
It was also discovered that 40 different staff on the 2023 payroll had different IPPIS numbers that had one account linked to the different names. Of the 40 staff, 21 received double salary.
“Furthermore, an account number linked to two officers revealed that the account is in the name of a company, Don Aks Ikoro Global. Some names do not match the account name on the nominal and payroll.”