Fake Agencies, Ghost Workers: HEDA Commends Tinubu’s Directive on Forensic Audit, Urges Swift Prosecution of Perpetrators
The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) commends President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for directing a comprehensive forensic audit of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), federal agencies and related government systems following disturbing revelations of fictitious government entities, ghost workers and systemic control failures. In a statement signed by HEDA’s Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, the anti-corruption group described the directive as an important step towards uncovering the full extent of the weaknesses that have enabled fraud, impersonation and the diversion of public resources within the Federal Government. While welcoming the forensic audit, HEDA urged the Federal Government to ensure that the exercise is conducted independently, transparently and without political interference. According to Suraju, the audit must not become another administrative exercise that produces reports without consequences. Its findings should provide a clear basis for institutional reforms, recovery of public funds and criminal accountability. “HEDA particularly calls on the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to move swiftly on all evidence of criminal conduct uncovered during the investigations. “Where individuals are found to have created fictitious agencies, falsified government records, impersonated public officials, facilitated ghost-worker schemes or unlawfully accessed public resources, they must be prosecuted in accordance with the law,” he added. The group also urged the relevant prosecutorial authorities to ensure that cases arising from the investigations are diligently pursued to their logical conclusion. Those found guilty must face the full consequences of the law, while public funds established to have been fraudulently obtained must be traced and recovered. Beyond individual prosecutions, Suraju further demanded that the forensic audit result in concrete reforms to the government’s institutional architecture. Government must ensure that the exercise establishes not only who committed the offences, but also how the system allowed such conduct to occur and who enabled or failed to prevent it. HEDA further recommended that the outcome of the forensic audit, subject to legitimate security and investigative considerations, should be made sufficiently public to enable citizens to understand the scale of the problem and the measures being taken to address it.
