The Ghost Workers Fraud: Nigeria’s ‘Abnormal Normality’

by. L. A. Jimoh Ph.D.

The public sector in Nigeria is personified by various forms of theft, ranging from contract inflation and fictitious asset purchases to the payment of salaries to nonexistent workers (ghost workers). This article focuses on the ghost worker fraud, which has become embedded in the spreadsheets of the country’s treasury. It draws no blood, breaks no locks, and often invites no shame. This heinous act is so pervasive that it has ceased to shock a populace inured to bad news. This singular crime cuts across all levels of government, from the Federal Secretariat in Abuja to state secretariats in the eastern part of the country and local governments in the western part. The practice of drawing salaries for nonexistent workers, deceased employees, non-data-captured pensioners, and multiple appointments has become what I’ve termed an “abnormal normality.”

Recently, one of the anti-graft agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated that employment and payroll fraud is one of the greatest crimes in Nigeria, costing the country an average of N40 billion annually. This trend isn’t peculiar to rogue junior staff; it’s a systemic, habitual impunity involving everyone from the payroll clerk to the Permanent Secretary, and sometimes even involves connivance from political office holders. The crime is as old as the public sector itself but has evolved with information and communication technology. A “ghost worker” is simply a name on the payroll that corresponds to no human being.

The more effort the government puts into reducing it, the more the crime seems to increase. For instance, in Katsina State, a biometric screening committee discovered a total of 3,488 ghost workers across the 34 local government areas. Specifically, the Education Secretary of Zango Local Education Authority was alleged to have presented 24 fictitious names for verification, which were later found to be ghost workers, using someone else to present themselves for verification while they collected salaries from other places.

Also, on February 19, 2026, in an interview granted by Seun Okinbaloye, the revelations were even more disturbing and staggering. A forensic audit firm engaged by the Osun State government under Governor Ademola Adeleke, Salivot Consulting Limited, alleged that “the state was losing approximately N13.7 billion annually to payroll fraud.” The leader of the team further stated that “the firm uncovered 8,452 workers and 5,831 pensioners who failed physical verification. The most damning discovery was extreme bank account manipulation, where one account linked to a single Bank Verification Number (BVN) was receiving 962 separate salaries monthly. Another account was reportedly credited with 5,615 salaries in a single month.” This is empirical evidence of how public funds flow into individuals’ pockets through ghost worker fraud. What a heinous act!

This crime persists when the keepers of the gate become the thieves. The most disturbing thing is that the instruments designed for fraud management become a playground for those who understand their codes. For example, Mrs. Moses, O. Ester, a staff member of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, was arraigned by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) for manipulating and forging IPPIS instruments to illegally obtain funds. She was suspended in line with public service rules, and her salary was halted. Regrettably, she used her access to reinstate her salary without any approval. Evidently, the betrayal of public trust by two staff members of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ebute Meta – Shola Onasanya, the Chief Accountant, and Halimat Olalere, the Principal Executive Officer Accounts – led to their imprisonment for diverting public funds. They did this by embedding ghost workers into their monthly salaries and swapping bank details with theirs to siphon funds into personal accounts.

It was also reported that a civil servant from the University of Benin doubled as a staff member of Okha Local Government Council for over three years, collecting illegal accumulated double salaries amounting to N1,328,255.47 by disguising as staff of both the University and the Local Government. However, the ICPC eventually caught up with him. It is only pitiful that the foot soldiers often face the music, while the orchestrators remain in the shadows, because those who fish in this illegal pond are powerful people, sometimes called “untouchable.” You might recall how the current President of the World Trade Organization and former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, stated that her life was almost lost for exposing a $3.6 billion scam involving ghost workers and oil subsidies. This singular evidence indicates that ghost worker fraud is a systemic misconduct in public service.

The fight against payroll fraud requires a theoretical framework to solve it. As a forensic expert, I will examine the Fraud Triangle theory to understand why ghost worker fraud persists in the public sector in Nigeria.

The Fraud Triangle theory will help us move beyond what is happening to explain why it is happening in the first place. The Fraud Triangle was developed by criminologist Donald R. Cressey, identifying three main variables for why fraud is committed: Pressure, Opportunity, and Rationalization.

*Pressure (The Motivation):* It was established in my research carried out in 2022 on how forensic auditing could reduce tax fraud in Southwest Nigeria, that the pressure to commit fraud isn’t always about surviving starvation. It’s often a combination of systemic failures and social expectations. Godfatherism and political expectations lure some people to commit crimes against the system because they face immense pressure to settle their paymasters who secured their employment opportunities. Their salary is seldom sufficient to meet these demands, hence it creates pressure to invent additional illegal incomes to close the pressure gaps. The status and lifestyle of some political office holders lead them to connive with some Permanent Secretaries or Directors of Finance to create loopholes for making additional income, which could be through ghost worker fraud.

*Opportunity (The Hole in the System):* This is the second variable identified by the Fraud Triangle and is the biggest variable in Nigeria. The existence of the opportunity to commit fraud is a result of weak, nonexistent, or intentionally sabotaged controls by the people who are meant to enforce them. Poor data management, as evidenced in the Osun State forensic audit, means the lack of a single, unambiguous database allows one person to collect 962 salaries, and the opportunity lies in the chaos. Opportunity isn’t about a technical lacuna; it’s a deliberate human failing. How do you handle a situation where a gatekeeper opens the gate for the thief to enter? This indicates that the control isn’t just weak, but weaponized. The lackadaisical attitude of the Auditor-General’s offices, which pay no attention to periodic physical verification of staff, means no one bothers if the “Dende” on the payroll in Osun State was the same “Dende” buried in the village ten years ago. Nobody has paid attention to using biometrics and BVN as conditions for salary payments anymore, which explains why the government continues to speak on persistent ghost worker fraud.

*Rationalization (The Moral Excuse):* This is the psychological aspect of the theory where perpetrators use cultural and circumstantial excuses to justify their heinous crime against the system. A common phrase is that “the government is a thief,” and they see the government as an abstract, corrupt entity that thrives on public waste and personal enrichment. So, if they “fail to take their own,” the politicians will just use the money to buy another “jamboree” car. Therefore, they misconstrue illegality as legality by normalizing fraud. Some feel that because there’s no immediate punishment for involvement in ghost worker fraud, they too should get involved by looting the government. Even some politicians encourage public servants to find ways to improve their wealth illegally by referencing their predecessors who have embezzled public funds without any punishment.

To effectively manage the menace of ghost worker fraud in the Nigerian public sector, different approaches are required, but the core variables of the Fraud Triangle must be tackled. The solution is to ensure salaries are paid on time and are sufficient to meet employees’ needs, which might reduce pressures, while career progression should not be taken lightly. Governments at all levels must mandate the integration of BVN into platforms used for salary payments. As seen in the Osun case, BVN instantly exposed duplicates in the payment system. This should be compulsory: all payments on the payroll must be linked to a unique BVN and National Identity Number, and regular biometric data capture must be done. The offices of the Auditor-General should conduct regular, unannounced physical and biometric staff verifications.

Engaging a forensic audit firm requires due diligence to select one among the best. In such arguments, the government must separate the affairs of government from family matters. While family interference is needed, it should be addressed professionally and confidentially. As forensic experts, secretly taking pictures/videos is a globally accepted form of evidence to prove a case if it eventually leads to court. The rate at which fraud is being perpetrated in the corridors of political power is beyond imagination. It is very unfortunate that you can hardly enter Nigerian politics and come out with clean hands. Seeing someone brag in public, thinking that he or she is a saint, is, honestly, a lie. There is no way you could open the bottom of any political office holder or highly placed public servant in Nigeria without finding some “feces” there.

Fraud thrives in Nigeria because the system applies pressure, creating room for opportunity, and the perpetrators employ excuses to commit fraud. The fight against fraud, specifically payroll fraud, is a war against a deeply entrenched systemic issue. As long as “who you know” prevails in the system, and access to public funds without authorization continues, public sector fraud will keep finding new ways to haunt the treasury.

Could Nigeria restore sanity to the public service and stop turning abnormality into normality? Time will tell.

Jimoh Lukuman Ph.D.
Forensic Accountant.
[email protected]