President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive forensic audit of the Federal Government’s payroll system and all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to expose ghost workers, payroll fraud, fictitious government bodies and other channels through which public funds may have been abused.

The directive places the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) at the centre of the exercise, alongside related personnel, pension and financial-management platforms.

Tinubu assigned the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to coordinate the audit, which is expected to examine not only financial records but also the administrative and internal control structures of federal institutions.

The decision followed a resolution of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its August 19, 2026 meeting, following findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) concerning alleged ghost workers, “fake agencies” and weaknesses in government control systems.

The development was disclosed on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

According to Onanuga, the exercise will determine the scale and nature of weaknesses in the government’s control architecture and establish how such vulnerabilities may have been exploited.

The first phase will focus on a forensic review of IPPIS and its connections with other government platforms, including the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Sub-TSA.

The audit team will investigate reported cases of ghost workers and payroll manipulation, reconcile the figures identified by the ICPC and determine how fictitious or ineligible individuals were admitted into the government payroll.

It will also examine identity verification, biometric authentication, access controls and bank-account arrangements to identify weaknesses that may have enabled fraudulent enrolment and payments.

Investigators are expected to determine whether any identified irregularities resulted from flaws in digital systems, administrative failures, weak segregation of duties or the deliberate bypassing of established controls.

The second phase will involve a comprehensive review of federal agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies.

The review is expected to produce an authoritative inventory of federal government entities and verify the legal foundation for the existence of each institution.

It will also examine how government bodies secure official recognition, receive budgetary allocations, obtain office facilities and correspondence privileges, and gain access to government systems and public resources.

The Presidency said governance, procurement, internal audit and oversight mechanisms across federal institutions would also come under scrutiny.

The objective, it said, is to identify and close loopholes that allow irregular entities or unauthorised individuals to gain access to government funds and facilities.

Tinubu directed that the exercise be carried out with a high level of independence, professionalism and forensic integrity.

The audit team will be given access to relevant government records and systems and is expected to collaborate with the ICPC so that the review complements existing investigations, prosecutions and asset-recovery efforts.

The President stressed that the exercise must go beyond identifying individual cases of fraud or administrative misconduct.

Rather, it is expected to expose and address the structural weaknesses that make such abuses possible in the first place.

The Presidency said the outcome would help strengthen government controls, improve personnel and financial-data verification, eliminate systemic loopholes and enhance accountability across federal institutions.

The exercise is also expected to ensure that only legally recognised government entities and genuinely eligible personnel have access to public funds and other government resources.

The administration described the directive as part of Tinubu’s broader effort to improve fiscal governance, transparency, accountability and institutional integrity across the Federal Government.