President Bola Tinubu has directed Taiwo Oyedele, minister of finance and co-ordinating minister of the economy, to oversee a comprehensive forensic audit of federal government systems.
Bayo Onanuga, presidential spokesperson, disclosed this in a statement on Friday, saying the exercise will cover the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), federal government agencies and their administration and internal controls.
The directive follows a Federal Executive Council (FEC) resolution on August 19, 2026, prompted by findings from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on “fake agencies”, ghost workers and other control failures.
According to Onanuga, the audit will determine the nature and extent of weaknesses in government’s control systems and establish how such loopholes have been exploited.
The exercise will have 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 investigate reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud, reconcile figures identified by the ICPC, trace how fictitious or ineligible persons were enrolled and review access, identity, biometric and bank-account controls.
The audit will also examine the links 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 aim is to determine whether fraud resulted from system defects, process failures, inadequate segregation of duties or deliberate circumvention.
The second component will cover all federal government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies.
Onanuga said the exercise would establish a definitive inventory of such entities and verify their legal basis.
It will also examine how government bodies obtain official recognition, budgetary consideration, correspondence privileges, office facilities and access to government systems.
The review will assess governance, procurement, internal audit and oversight controls across government to identify and close systemic weaknesses that could allow irregular entities or individuals to access public resources.
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 the review complements ongoing investigations, prosecutions and recoveries.
“President Tinubu expects the exercise to go beyond identifying individual cases of fraud or administrative failure by strengthening the architecture of government, closing systemic loopholes, improving data verification and reconciliation, reinforcing accountability, and ensuring that only duly constituted entities and eligible personnel have access to government resources,” Onanuga said.
He added that the exercise underscores the president’s commitment to strengthening transparency, accountability, fiscal governance and institutional integrity across the federal government.
Background
The development comes amid a wider ICPC investigation into the activities of the alleged fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and other procedural weaknesses within government.
On Friday, Tinubu ordered the suspension of three permanent secretaries after the ICPC discovered another “fake agency” operating within the premises of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).
The president also ordered the arrest of George Nwabueze, national coordinator of the “fake agency”, identified as the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office.
Critics, including Ali Ndume, former senate leader and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), have cited the fake agency scandal as evidence of oversight lapses in the current administration.
