Payroll audit: Driving accountability, efficiency, and productivity in public service

The Federal Government of Nigeria recently issued a directive that the salaries of federal civil servants who fail to complete the ongoing nationwide verification and skills assessment will be suspended starting in March 2026. This announcement follows the conclusion of the Personnel Audit and Skills Gap Analysis (PASGA) Project, launched in 2025 as a core component of President Bola Tinubu’s civil service reform agenda, aimed at sanitising the system and eliminating payments to ghost workers.

The PASGA Project seeks to ensure that only qualified, properly placed, and actively engaged workers remain on the federal payroll. The initiative also addresses longstanding concerns about irregular entries in the civil service register, overpayments, and inefficiencies that have historically undermined service delivery and public trust.

In a written directive signed by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, and addressed to the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Tunji Olaopa, the government announced a final two-week window for affected officers to regularise their records and complete both physical verification and online skills assessments. The mop-up verification exercise is scheduled to run from February 16 to February 27, 2026, at designated halls in the Office of the Head of Service in Abuja.
Understanding Payroll Audits

At its core, a payroll audit is a systematic review of an organisation’s payroll processes, records, and payments to ensure accuracy, compliance, and integrity. It investigates employee hours, wages, benefits, tax withholdings, statutory deductions, and total emoluments. By doing so, payroll audits ensure that workers are correctly compensated, organisations comply with labour regulations, and financial leakages are minimised.

Beyond correcting errors, payroll audits serve as a preventive mechanism. They identify overpayments, underpayments, misclassifications, ghost workers, and fake overtime claims before such issues escalate. Audits also reinforce compliance with existing labour and tax laws, ensuring organisations and government agencies operate within the legal framework while protecting the rights of employees.

Benefits of Payroll Audit

The value of payroll audits extends far beyond error detection. Among the key benefits are the following:

Error and Fraud Detection: Audits uncover discrepancies such as ghost workers, inflated entitlements, and irregular overtime payments.

Enhanced Accuracy: Ensures employees receive correct compensation on time, fostering trust and morale within the workforce.

Regulatory Compliance: Supports adherence to labour laws, tax obligations, and statutory deductions, reducing legal exposure and penalties.

Cost Efficiency: By eliminating wasteful expenditure, payroll audits reduce unnecessary financial outflows and strengthen fiscal discipline.

Accountability and Transparency: Provides a structured mechanism to hold managers and employees accountable, thereby boosting public confidence in government institutions.

Strategic Workforce Management: Skills assessments linked to payroll audits enable better workforce planning, capacity building, and deployment of personnel in areas where they are most needed.

In essence, payroll audits are a game-changing tool that can restore efficiency, accountability, and productivity in the public service. When implemented systematically, they create a culture of responsibility, transparency, and trust while optimising human and financial resources.

The PASGA project: Restoring order in the Federal Civil Service

The PASGA Project represents a decisive step toward modernising Nigeria’s federal workforce. By linking personnel verification with skills assessment, the initiative ensures that every officer on the payroll is qualified, engaged, and properly placed. The government has made it clear that non-compliance carries consequences: officers who fail to complete both stages of the verification within the approved timeframe will have their salaries stopped starting March 2026.

Additionally, non-compliant officers may face administrative sanctions, including termination of appointment in accordance with the Public Service Rules. This approach underscores that the PASGA project is not merely a technical exercise but a strategic tool to restore efficiency, accountability, and productivity across the federal civil service.
Conclusion

Payroll audits, particularly when integrated with skill assessments and verification exercises like PASGA, are vital for building a robust, accountable, and productive civil service. They not only prevent fraud and inefficiency but also promote transparency, strengthen institutional credibility, and ensure public resources are used judiciously. As the federal government implements these reforms, it sends a clear signal: no worker, no matter their position, is exempt from accountability.

In a country where public trust has often been undermined by inefficiency and corruption, the PASGA Project and payroll audits represent a pragmatic, evidence-based approach to reform, aligning personnel management with modern standards of governance and service delivery.

 

Dr Kingsley Ndubueze Ayozie, FCTI, FCA, is a public affairs analyst and chartered accountant based in Lagos.