President Bola Tinubu has approved a comprehensive forensic audit of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), Federal Government agencies and other government systems to identify weaknesses that may have enabled fraud and administrative abuses.
The President directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to oversee and coordinate the exercise.
According to a statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Friday, the directive followed the Federal Executive Council’s resolution of August 19, 2026, after findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on alleged fake agencies, ghost workers and other control failures.
The audit is expected to establish the nature and extent of weaknesses in the Federal Government’s control systems and determine how such weaknesses may have been exploited.
The first component will focus on IPPIS and related payroll, personnel, pension and financial-management platforms. It will examine reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud, reconcile figures identified by the ICPC and trace how fictitious or ineligible persons were enrolled on government systems.
The exercise will also review access, identity, biometric and bank-account controls, as well as the interfaces between IPPIS and other government platforms, including the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Sub-TSA.
The review will determine whether identified irregularities resulted from system defects, process failures, inadequate segregation of duties or deliberate circumvention of established controls.
The second component will cover all Federal Government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies.
It will establish a definitive inventory of such entities and verify their legal basis, while examining how organisations obtain official recognition, budgetary consideration, correspondence privileges, office facilities and access to government systems.
The audit will further assess governance, procurement, internal audit and oversight controls across government, with the aim of closing systemic weaknesses that could allow irregular entities or individuals to access public resources.
President Tinubu directed that the exercise be conducted with the highest standards of independence, professionalism and forensic integrity.
The audit team will have access to relevant government systems and records and will collaborate with the ICPC to ensure that the exercise complements ongoing investigations, prosecutions and recovery efforts.
The President said the exercise should go beyond identifying individual cases of fraud or administrative failure, stressing the need 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 exercise underscores Tinubu’s commitment to strengthening transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity across the Federal Government.