President Bola Tinubu has directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to oversee and coordinate a comprehensive forensic audit of Federal Government systems.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga indicates that the audit will include a review of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), Federal Government agencies, and their administration and internal controls.
President Tinubu’s directive follows the Federal Executive Council’s resolution on August 19, 2026, in response to findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on “fake agencies”, ghost workers, and other control failures.
The statement further notes that the exercise will establish the nature and extent of weaknesses in the Government’s control system, and determine how such weaknesses have been exploited.
It states that the review comprise two interconnected components: the first will focus on a forensic audit of Government systems, particularly IPPIS and related payroll, personnel, pension and financial-management platforms. It will examine reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud, reconcile the figures identified by the ICPC, trace how fictitious or ineligible persons were enrolled, and review access, identity, biometric and bank-account controls.
The statement further discloses that the exercise will also examine the interfaces between IPPIS and other government platforms, including GIFMIS, Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Sub-TSA, to determine whether fraud resulted from system defects, process failures, inadequate segregation of duties or deliberate circumvention.
While the second component of the audit will cover all Federal Government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other governors.
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