Former Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun has revealed that the Federal Government discovered 45,000 ghost workers on the federal payroll after cross-referencing it with the Bank Verification Number database — a breakthrough she described as the product of deliberate technological intervention rather than conventional biometric exercises.
Speaking at the Citadel School of Government Dialogue Series in Lagos, Adeosun said the federal payroll had been the government’s single largest expenditure and was riddled with systemic fraud that earlier biometric-based clean-up efforts had failed to address, partly because paramilitary agencies, including the Police and Army, refused to participate in centralised verification.
“The payroll was our biggest cost. Previous biometric efforts had stalled because paramilitary groups refused to cooperate. We bypassed this by using BVN data,” she said.
“We ran the federal payroll against the BVN database, and the result was staggering: we found 45,000 ghost workers.”
Adeosun clarified that the fraud was not always the work of organised criminal networks. In many instances, a single person’s BVN was linked to multiple salary payments, while others involved employees who had died or been transferred but remained on active payroll.
To reinforce the reform, the ministry introduced a human accountability layer by requiring Permanent Secretaries to personally sign off on their respective payrolls, creating a clear trail of responsibility that made it harder to conceal fraudulent entries.
The former minister also used the occasion to advocate for evidence-based policymaking, urging public officials to anchor their arguments in data.
“If you just shout, you’re just a clanging cymbal. If you come armed with data and graphs, you can take on anybody. Data is hard to argue with,” she said.
Adeosun urged current and emerging leaders to embrace artificial intelligence and data tools while maintaining the discipline to drive reforms to completion, warning that technology alone was insufficient without resilient leadership and legislative backing.
The dialogue, which also featured Pastor Tunde Bakare and Professor Mike Adebamowo, ended with broad agreement that the ghost worker discovery, while a significant fiscal win, needed to be codified in law to prevent future administrations from reversing the gains.
Bakare commended Adeosun’s return to public life with her reputation intact, saying her ability to clear her name was itself a victory for governance standards.
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