An assessment by Integrated Personnel and Payment Information System (IPPIS) has shown that Martin Ugwu Okpe, who impersonated his friend to work in the Ministry of Health since 2006, owes the Federal Government more than N17million in salaries and allowances.

IPPIS arrived at exactly N17,024,017.90 through pay slips and performance evaluation cards as money Okpe owes government.

The amount excludes tax and union dues through nine years which were paid to the government, according to IPPIS.

The health ministry is looking for “full retrieval” of money that accrued to Okpe in the past nine years, according to Permanent Secretary Linus Awute.

Okpe worked in the Department of Health Planning Research and Statistics as a Grade-12 senior medical officer using the credentials and name of a Dr George Davidson Daniel, his friend and a doctor doing residency in Jos.

Okpe was charged to court last Tuesday and remanded in Kuje prisons pending the fulfilment of his bail condition. The court will hear the case on October 10.