BREAKING: Court Orders Final Forfeiture of ₦942 Million Recovered From Ghost Workers

• A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of nearly ₦942 million linked to suspected ghost workers.

The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of ₦941,994,079.86 linked to an alleged ghost worker payroll fraud uncovered during the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission’s (ICPC) investigation into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

Justice Binta Nyako granted the order after considering an ex parte application filed by the ICPC, directing that the recovered funds be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

According to a statement issued by the anti-corruption agency, the funds were identified as proceeds of unlawful activities traced to hundreds of suspected ghost workers embedded within the federal payroll system.

As part of the investigation, the ICPC had earlier secured an interim forfeiture order and subsequently published the names of 910 individuals suspected to have benefited from the alleged fraud in Daily Trust and The Nation newspapers on March 18, 2026.

During the court proceedings, ICPC prosecution counsel, Hamza Sani, presented detailed evidence, including IPPIS numbers, the names of the alleged beneficiaries, and bank account details linked to the suspected payroll fraud.

After reviewing the evidence, Justice Nyako ruled in favour of the Commission.

“An Order is hereby made for the final forfeiture to the Federal Republic of Nigeria of the sum of ₦941,994,079.86 seized during the investigation into the IPPIS payroll scam,” the judge ruled.

Reacting to the judgment, the ICPC reaffirmed its commitment to tackling corruption and strengthening transparency and accountability in public institutions.

The Commission disclosed that its investigation exposed a large-scale payroll fraud involving fictitious public servants whose salaries were paid into accounts belonging to individuals and companies.

According to the agency, a systems review conducted in 2023 uncovered numerous fake employee records across several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Investigators found that fraudulent IPPIS identities had been created for non-existent workers, with salaries paid over extended periods into multiple bank accounts.

In several cases, account names reportedly did not match the identities of the supposed employees, while some accounts received multiple salary payments simultaneously.

To prevent further withdrawals, the ICPC placed Post No Debit (PND) restrictions on all identified accounts between August and November 2024.

The affected institutions include the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Ministries of Defence, Education, Agriculture and Rural Development, Works, Water Resources and Interior, as well as the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Several tertiary institutions were also implicated, including the University of Benin, the University of Calabar, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the University of Maiduguri, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies.

The case forms part of the Federal Government’s broader effort to eliminate ghost workers from the public service through the IPPIS, a payroll system introduced in 2007 to improve transparency, accountability and efficiency in personnel management.