A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of ₦941,994,079.86 recovered during an investigation into a massive payroll fraud involving the Federal Government's Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), permanently transferring the funds to the Federal Government.

Justice Binta Fatima Nyako granted the order on July 13, 2026, following an application filed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/156/2026.

The recovered funds had been preserved in the ICPC Recovery Account pending the conclusion of the forfeiture proceedings.

The application, filed through ICPC counsel Fatima Abdullahi Bendi and supported by an affidavit deposed to by commission official Idris Abubakar, stemmed from investigations into an elaborate payroll fraud uncovered in 2024.

The probe traced suspicious salary payments to 909 bank accounts spread across 17 financial institutions, exposing a sophisticated ghost workers' network that diverted public funds through multiple accounts.

The affected financial institutions include Access Bank, Ecobank, First Bank, FCMB, Fidelity Bank, GTBank, Jaiz Bank, Keystone Bank, NPF Microfinance Bank, Polaris Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Sterling Bank, Union Bank, Unity Bank, UBA, Wema Bank and Zenith Bank.

Court documents also revealed that several individuals operated multiple accounts across different banks, a pattern investigators associated with the layering and movement of illicit funds.

Justice Nyako ruled that the ₦941.99 million, recovered during the investigation, be finally forfeited to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, holding that the money constituted proceeds reasonably suspected to have originated from unlawful activities.

The order also affirmed that the funds already domiciled in the ICPC Recovery Account should remain permanently vested in the Federal Government.

The IPPIS was introduced by the Federal Government to centralise salary payments, eliminate ghost workers and curb payroll fraud across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

However, the ICPC investigation uncovered extensive manipulation of the payroll system, with salaries allegedly paid to non-existent workers and the proceeds channelled through hundreds of bank accounts.