President Bola Tinubu has directed Taiwo Oyedele, minister of finance and co-ordinating minister of the economy, to oversee and coordinate a comprehensive forensic audit of federal government systems.

Bayo Onanuga, presidential spokesperson, said in a statement on Friday 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.

According to Onanuga, the directive follows the federal executive council’s (FEC) 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.

He said the exercise would establish the nature and extent of weaknesses in government’s control system and determine how such loopholes have been exploited.

He added that the review would comprise two interconnected components, with the first focusing 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 reads.

“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.”

Onanuga said the second component of the audit would cover all federal government agencies, departments, commissions, councils, parastatals and other government bodies.

He said the audit would establish a definitive inventory of such bodies and verify their legal basis, while examining how entities obtain official recognition, budgetary consideration, correspondence privileges, office facilities and access to government systems.

The exercise, the presidential spokesperson noted, would also assess governance, procurement, internal audit, and oversight controls across government to close systemic weaknesses that could allow irregular entities or persons to access public resources.

Onanuga said Tinubu directed that the exercise be conducted with the highest standards of independence, professionalism and forensic integrity.

He said the audit team will have access to relevant government systems and records as well as collaborate with the ICPC to ensure that the review complements all 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 in government.

On Friday, Tinubu ordered the suspension of three permanent secretaries following the ICPC’s discovery of 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, the national coordinator of the “fake agency” identified as 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 ongoing fake agency scandal as evidence of oversight lapses of the current administration.

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