By Charles Ebi 

Federal Government will soon begin a comprehensive probe of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) following a third party breach of the payment platform.

The Director, Press and Public Relations in the Office of the Accountant-General for the Federation, Bawa Mokwa confirmed the development on Monday in Abuja.

The IPPIS scheme which started in 2007 is one of the Federal Government’s reform initiative designed to achieve a centralized payroll system of the Federal Government.

It facilitates easy storage, updating and retrieval of personal record for administrative and pensions processing to aid manpower planning and budgeting as well as to comply with the global best practice.

The implementation of the IPPIS initiative was aimed at reducing personnel costs by eradicating the issue of ghost workers.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 directed the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed to ensure that all employees of the Federal Government are enrolled on the IPPIS platform.

Through the implementation of the IPPIS, over N273.8bn had been saved by the Federal Government.

But there was a breach of the IPPIS third party payment protocol at an Institute outside Abuja.

The incident, according to the OAGF Director of Press has since been reported to, and is being investigated by relevant anti-corruption, security and regulatory agencies.

Mokwa said that already, a staff member suspected to be connected with the breach has been suspended to allow for thorough investigation.

He said, “The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation is in receipt of enquiries over alleged ‘salary padding’ on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) involving some unspecified Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA).

“This is to inform the general public that there is no evidence of ‘salary padding’ before the OAGF at this time; however, the office is aware of reported breach of the IPPIS third party payment protocol at an Institute outside Abuja.

“The incident has since been reported to, and is being investigated by relevant anti-corruption, security and regulatory agencies.

In the meantime, a staff suspected to be connected with the breach has been suspended to allow for thorough investigation.

“All necessary steps are being taken to strengthen the controls around the IPPIS payment platform and an independent forensic audit of the entire payroll system is underway to ascertain if the reported breach is isolated or widespread.”