- Orders Forensic Audit Of IPPIS, Federal Agencies
- Says Audit Will Expose Loopholes Exploited To Access Public Resources
- Promote Transparency, Accountability, Fiscal governance
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered a sweeping forensic audit of the Federal Government’s payroll systems and agencies following disturbing revelations of ghost workers, alleged “fake agencies” and deep-seated control failures across the public service.
The President directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to lead and coordinate the exercise, which will subject the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), government agencies and their internal control mechanisms to a comprehensive forensic examination.
The directive followed a resolution of the Federal Executive Council on August 19, 2026, triggered by findings from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on irregular government entities, ghost workers and weaknesses in the systems guarding public funds.
The Presidency said the audit would not merely hunt for individual fraudsters but would expose how loopholes in the Federal Government’s architecture have been exploited to siphon or improperly access public resources.
IPPIS, Payroll Systems Under The Microscope
Under the first component of the exercise, auditors will conduct a forensic review of IPPIS and related payroll, personnel, pension and financial-management platforms.
The review will investigate reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud, reconcile figures uncovered by the ICPC and trace how fictitious or ineligible individuals were enrolled into government systems.
It will also scrutinise access controls, identity verification, biometric records and bank-account controls to determine where the system may have been compromised.
The audit will further examine the 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.
According to the Presidency, the exercise will determine whether irregularities resulted from system defects, process failures, weak segregation of duties or deliberate circumvention of established controls.
‘Fake Agencies’ Face Government-Wide Probe
The second arm of the forensic audit will extend across all Federal Government ministries, departments, agencies, commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies.
The exercise will seek to establish a definitive inventory of government entities and verify their legal status and the basis for their existence.
Investigators will examine how entities gain official recognition, receive budgetary allocations, enjoy correspondence privileges, obtain office facilities and secure access to government information and financial systems.
Governance, procurement, internal audit and oversight mechanisms will also come under scrutiny in a bid to shut down systemic weaknesses that could enable irregular entities or individuals to gain access to public resources.
President Tinubu, according to the statement issued Friday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, directed that the audit must be conducted with the “highest standards of independence, professionalism and forensic integrity.”
The audit team will have access to relevant government records and systems and will work with the ICPC to ensure that the exercise complements ongoing investigations, prosecutions and recovery efforts.
The Presidency said the ultimate objective was to go beyond exposing individual cases of fraud and administrative failure.
It said the exercise would strengthen the architecture of government, plug systemic loopholes, improve data verification and reconciliation, reinforce accountability and ensure that only legally constituted entities and eligible personnel have access to government resources.
The move, the Presidency said, underscores Tinubu’s commitment to transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity across the Federal Government.
