ICPC uncovers official who put 14 family members on govt payroll

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered instances of individuals enrolling their family members into government payrolls, including one official who added 14 family members to his payroll. During a recent lecture, ICPC Chairman Musa Aliyu revealed the commission's investigation into this issue, saying they discovered a person who enlisted 14 family members into a public office's payroll while residing in a religious hotel.

Another individual allegedly enrolled his family members, including his wife, daughter, and son, receiving 13 salaries each. The ICPC chairman emphasized that the commission had identified about 900 suspected ghost workers and challenged them to prove their employment status. Aliyu explained that the commission spent a year investigating these cases, discovering that fictitious names were sometimes linked to email addresses and bank accounts belonging to other individuals.

He warned that ghost workers could lead to fraudulent pension, housing, health insurance, and other benefits. The ICPC chairman also disclosed that the commission recovered over N24 billion in ghost pension funds in 2024. He stressed that the commission is focusing on corruption prevention and ensuring proper execution of government projects, rather than solely relying on criminal prosecution.