FG UNCOVERS 45,000 GHOST WORKERS THROUGH BVN INTEGRATION – ADEOSUN
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By: Muftau Fatimo
Former Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has explained how the Federal Government used technology to tackle widespread payroll fraud, revealing that integrating the Bank Verification Number (BVN) system helped uncover 45,000 “ghost workers.”
Speaking at the Citadel School of Government Dialogue series in Lagos, Adeosun noted that the federal payroll, previously the government’s largest expenditure, was plagued by inefficiencies that traditional biometric measures had failed to resolve.
She highlighted that earlier efforts to cleanse the payroll through biometrics often stalled, largely due to resistance from paramilitary agencies such as the Police and Army, which were reluctant to cooperate with centralized systems.
To address this, her team bypassed the need for new biometric registrations by leveraging the existing BVN database.
“The payroll was our biggest cost,” Adeosun stated. “Previous biometric efforts had stalled because paramilitary groups refused to cooperate. We bypassed this by using BVN data. We ran the federal payroll against the BVN database, and the result was staggering: we found 45,000 ‘ghost workers.’”
Clarifying the nature of the fraud, the former Minister noted that the term ‘ghost worker’ often masked simpler forms of systemic failure and individual greed rather than complex criminal syndicates.
“In many cases, it wasn’t a ‘ghost,’ but one person’s BVN linked to seven different salaries,” she explained.
“It wasn’t always a ‘cartel.’ Sometimes it was just inefficiency, people who had died or transferred but were still being paid,” Adeosun added.
To ensure the reform stuck, she introduced a layer of human accountability to complement the technology. By requiring Permanent Secretaries to personally sign off on their respective payrolls, the ministry created a trail of responsibility that made it difficult to hide fraudulent entries.
Adeosun used the success of the BVN integration to emphasise a broader lesson for public officials: the importance of empirical evidence in policy defence.
“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 remarked.
The dialogue, which also featured Pastor Tunde Bakare and Professor Mike Adebamowo, highlighted the need for leaders to embrace modern tools to fix age-old problems. Adeosun urged current and emerging leaders to “fall in love with AI and data tools” while maintaining the discipline to execute reforms.
“If you can’t explain your policy, you shouldn’t be doing it,” Adeosun asserted, adding that while technology provides the “bullets,” it takes resilient leadership to “fire the cannonballs” necessary for national transformation.
The event concluded with a consensus that while the 45,000 discovered ghost workers represented a major win for the treasury, such reforms must be backed by law to ensure they are not reversed by future administrations.
Bakare commended the former minister’s resilience, emphasizing that her return to public service with her integrity intact represents a significant win for good governance.
He stated, “Had Adeosun not prevailed in her case, the stigma would have followed her. It is highly admirable that she served as minister without any evidence of misappropriated funds or properties being linked to her.”
The event underscored that while technologies like AI and BVN offer powerful tools for reform, it is ultimately the courage of leaders and the enforcement of the law that ensure such reforms endure.
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