Tinubu orders forensic audit of IPPIS, agencies over ghost workers, fake entities

President Bola Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive forensic audit of Federal Government systems and the operations of federal agencies following concerns over alleged ghost workers, fictitious government entities and weaknesses in the systems used to manage public resources.

The directive, according to the Presidency, is aimed at identifying systemic loopholes, determining how they may have been exploited and strengthening controls across the Federal Government.

The audit will be coordinated by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed the development in a statement issued on Friday.

He said the directive followed the resolution of the Federal Executive Council at its August 19, 2026 meeting, which considered findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) concerning alleged fake agencies, ghost workers and other control failures within government systems.

According to Onanuga, the exercise will consist of two interconnected components covering government payroll and financial systems on one hand, and the entire architecture of federal agencies and other government bodies on the other.

Onanuga said the audit would investigate reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud and reconcile the figures and discrepancies identified by the ICPC.

It will also trace how fictitious, duplicate or otherwise ineligible individuals may have been enrolled on government payrolls and examine the controls governing access to personnel records.

Particular attention, he said, would be paid to identity verification, biometric authentication and bank-account controls used to validate government employees and process payments.

The review will further examine the interfaces between IPPIS and other critical government financial platforms, including the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Sub-TSA.

The Presidency said the objective is to determine whether weaknesses or gaps between the various platforms have created opportunities for manipulation, fraudulent enrolment or diversion of public funds.

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The second component of the exercise will cover Federal Government ministries, departments and agencies, as well as commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies.

Onanuga said the audit would establish a definitive inventory of all federal government entities and verify the legal basis for their existence.

The exercise will also investigate how government bodies obtain official recognition and gain access to budgetary allocations, government correspondence, office facilities and official information systems.

The audit will examine governance structures, procurement processes, internal-audit arrangements and oversight mechanisms across government institutions.

According to the Presidency, the review is intended to prevent improperly constituted or fictitious entities and individuals from gaining access to public resources.

President Tinubu directed that the exercise be conducted according to the highest standards of independence, professionalism and forensic integrity.

Onanuga said the audit team would be granted access to relevant government systems and records necessary to conduct the review.

The team is also expected to work with the ICPC to ensure that the forensic audit complements the commission’s ongoing investigations, prosecutions and recovery efforts.

The Presidency stressed that the exercise would not be limited to identifying individual cases of fraud or administrative misconduct.

Rather, the administration wants the review to expose weaknesses in the architecture of government that could facilitate fraud and other forms of abuse.

“The administration wants the review to strengthen the architecture of government, close systemic loopholes, improve data verification and reconciliation, reinforce accountability and ensure that only legally constituted entities and eligible personnel have access to government resources,” Onanuga said.

The development signals a broader attempt by the Tinubu administration to move beyond investigating isolated cases of corruption and address weaknesses embedded in government processes and databases.

By subjecting IPPIS and the wider federal institutional structure to forensic scrutiny, the government intends to establish whether existing verification, payroll, financial and administrative controls are capable of preventing fraudulent access to public funds.

The exercise is also expected to provide government with a clearer picture of the number and status of federal agencies and personnel operating within the public service.

The Presidency said the initiative underscores Tinubu’s commitment to transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity across the Federal Government.