President Bola Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive forensic audit of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and Federal Government ministries, departments and agencies.
The exercise is aimed at uncovering ghost workers, payroll fraud, “fake agencies” and other weaknesses that may have facilitated the diversion of public resources.
The President also directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to oversee and coordinate the exercise.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.
According to Onanuga, the directive followed a 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) on the existence of “fake agencies”, ghost workers and other weaknesses in government control systems.
He said the audit would determine the nature and extent of vulnerabilities in the Federal Government’s control systems and establish how they may have been exploited.
The exercise will be conducted in two major components.
The first will focus on a forensic examination of government systems, particularly IPPIS and related payroll, personnel, pension and financial-management platforms.
The audit 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 on government payrolls.
It will also examine access, identity, biometric and bank-account controls to identify weaknesses that may have facilitated fraudulent enrolment and payments.
Beyond IPPIS, the review will examine its interfaces with other government financial platforms, including the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Sub-TSA.
Investigators are expected to determine whether identified fraud resulted from system defects, administrative failures, inadequate segregation of duties or deliberate circumvention of established controls.
The second component will involve a comprehensive review of Federal Government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies.
The review will establish a definitive inventory of federal government entities and verify the legal basis for their existence.
It will also examine how government bodies obtain official recognition, budgetary allocations, correspondence privileges, office facilities and access to government systems.
According to the Presidency, the audit will further assess governance, procurement, internal audit and oversight mechanisms across federal institutions, with the aim of closing loopholes that could allow irregular entities or unauthorised persons to access public resources.
Tinubu directed that the exercise be conducted with the highest standards of independence, professionalism and forensic integrity.
To facilitate the investigation, the audit team will be granted access to relevant government systems and records.
The team will also work with the ICPC to ensure that the forensic review complements ongoing investigations, prosecutions and recovery efforts by the anti-corruption agency.
The President said the exercise should go beyond identifying individual cases of fraud or administrative lapses and address structural weaknesses that make such abuses possible.
The Presidency said the audit is expected to strengthen government systems, improve data verification and reconciliation, close systemic loopholes and reinforce accountability across federal institutions.
It will also ensure that only legally constituted government entities and eligible personnel have access to public funds and other government resources.
The exercise, the Presidency said, underscores Tinubu’s commitment to strengthening transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity across the Federal Government.
