By Daniel Edu
The Nigerian government has announced that salaries of workers who are not on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) will not be paid. The decision was made as part of an effort to verify the records of all civil servants and ensure transparency in the payroll system. The government extended the verification process for two weeks to allow officers who had not participated in previous verifications to update their records. However, it was emphasized that after the ongoing exercise concludes, any officer whose records could not be verified will be removed from the government’s payroll.
The IPPIS project, initiated in 2007, has aimed to eliminate ghost workers and improve the accuracy of the payroll system. While progress has been made, challenges persist, including a significant rise in the number of workers on the federal government’s payroll, which increased from 1.14 million in June 2020 to 1.5 million in August 2023. Despite identifying and eliminating about 70,000 ghost workers in June 2022, the personnel cost remains a significant budgetary concern.
This decision to withhold salaries for non-IPPIS-compliant workers highlights the government’s commitment to streamlining the payroll system and addressing inefficiencies in public service payroll management. It also reflects the ongoing efforts to ensure the transparency and accountability of the government’s financial operations.
