President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a comprehensive forensic audit of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), Federal Government agencies and their internal control systems.
The President directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to oversee and coordinate the exercise.
The audit follows the Federal Executive Council’s resolution of August 19, 2026, which came after findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) concerning alleged fake government agencies, ghost workers and other control failures.
The exercise will determine the nature and extent of weaknesses within government systems, as well as how such weaknesses may have been exploited.
The review will have two major components.
The first 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 into government systems.
Auditors will also review access, identity, biometric and bank-account controls, as well as the links between IPPIS and other government platforms, including GIFMIS, Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Sub-TSA.
The audit will determine whether identified fraud resulted from system defects, process failures, poor separation of duties or deliberate circumvention of 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, verify their legal basis and examine how they obtain official recognition, budgetary consideration, correspondence privileges, office facilities and access to government systems.
The exercise will also assess governance, procurement, internal audit and oversight mechanisms across government in a bid to close loopholes that could allow irregular entities or individuals to gain access to public resources.
President Tinubu directed that the audit 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 work with the ICPC to ensure that the exercise complements ongoing investigations, prosecutions and asset recovery efforts.
The President said the exercise must go beyond identifying individual cases of fraud or administrative failure. It is expected to strengthen government systems, close systemic loopholes, improve data verification and reconciliation, reinforce accountability and ensure that only legally recognised entities and eligible personnel have access to government resources.
The audit, according to the Presidency, further demonstrates Tinubu’s commitment to transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity across the Federal Government.