MSMEs lose up to ₦10 trillion annually to hidden employee fraud, CPPE warns
CPPE warns workplace corruption threatens small business survival and economic stability.
Nigeria’s micro, small, and medium enterprises are losing between ₦5 trillion and ₦10 trillion annually to employee fraud and workplace corruption, a new warning from the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise reveals. This staggering drain, largely invisible to the public eye, threatens the very backbone of Nigeria’s entrepreneurial economy.
The policy think-tank disclosed the figures in a statement signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Muda Yusuf, on Sunday. Yusuf described occupational fraud as one of the most serious yet underreported threats facing Nigerian businesses.
“The scale of the losses runs into trillions of naira annually,” the statement said. “Employee corruption and internal fraud have become a silent but significant drain on business sustainability and profitability.”
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The CPPE noted that internal fraud has evolved far beyond a routine management problem. Today, it represents a systemic economic risk capable of eroding investor confidence, destabilising small businesses, and undermining national growth. Employee-related corruption ranges from cash theft and payroll manipulation to procurement fraud and inventory diversion, gradually eating away at already thin profit margins.
Many small businesses, the organisation warned, are especially vulnerable due to limited internal controls, informal accounting systems, and high-trust management structures. These conditions, once seen as efficiency or flexibility, now expose businesses to a form of financial leakage that is both widespread and difficult to detect.
“Employee corruption and occupational fraud constitute one of the largest hidden drains on Nigeria’s entrepreneurial economy, with annual losses ranging from ₦5 to ₦10 trillion,” the CPPE noted.
The think-tank stressed that this is not merely a managerial issue to be solved with tighter oversight. Safeguarding MSMEs, it said, is critical to Nigeria’s broader economic stability. Tackling employee fraud requires coordinated action involving business owners, regulators, and policymakers alike.
The statement concluded that addressing workplace corruption is a strategic imperative, not an optional management concern. In an economy where MSMEs account for a large share of jobs and national output, failure to confront this hidden crisis could jeopardise livelihoods, investor confidence, and long-term growth.
