Fake agencies: FG probes legal status of all federal institutions

The Federal Government has announced its readiness to carry out a nationwide verification of the legal status of all ministries, departments, agencies, commissions, councils and parastatals as part of a sweeping forensic audit aimed at rooting out fake government bodies and tightening public sector accountability.

The exercise, approved by President Bola Tinubu, comes in the wake of findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), which uncovered the existence of alleged fake agencies, ghost workers and other lapses in government control systems.

According to a statement issued on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the audit will establish a definitive inventory of all federal government entities and verify the legal basis for their existence.

It will also examine how agencies obtain official recognition, secure budgetary allocations, gain correspondence privileges, acquire office facilities and access government platforms.

Onanuga said the review was designed to identify and eliminate systemic weaknesses that may have enabled irregular or unauthorised entities to access public resources.

As part of the exercise, the government will also assess governance, procurement, internal audit and oversight mechanisms across federal institutions to strengthen accountability and prevent future abuses.

Beyond the verification of agencies, the forensic audit will extend to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and other government financial management platforms.

Tinubu orders forensic audit of IPPIS, federal agencies

According to Onanuga, the review will investigate reported cases of ghost workers and payroll fraud, reconcile figures earlier identified by the ICPC and determine how fictitious or ineligible individuals were enrolled into government payroll systems.

It will also examine the interfaces between IPPIS and platforms such as the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Remita, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Sub-TSA to establish whether fraud stemmed from system defects, process failures or deliberate manipulation.

Onanuga said the audit team would work closely with the ICPC and have access to relevant government records to support ongoing investigations and recovery efforts.

He noted that the exercise is intended not only to uncover fraud but also to strengthen the architecture of government by improving data verification, closing control loopholes and ensuring that only duly established government institutions and eligible personnel have access to public resources.