The Budget Office of the Federation has maintained that no public funds were released to the controversial Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC), despite its inclusion in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, made the clarification while appearing before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the establishment, legal status and budgetary provisions of the council.
Yakubu said although the National Assembly appropriated funds for the council, the statutory conditions required for the release and expenditure of the money were never fulfilled.
“The conclusion is firm. Not one kobo of the personnel provision could lawfully have been drawn, and not one kobo was drawn. The overhead provision never matured into a lawful cash release,” he said.
“The capital provision never matured into procurement or expenditure. The conditions required for spending were not met and were not close to being met. There is therefore no personnel expenditure to recover. The money never moved because the controls held.”
He explained that the Budget Office withheld financial clearance, no recruitment or payroll was approved, while the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation were directed to withhold all payment instruments.
According to Yakubu, the personnel, overhead and capital allocations never translated into payments or procurement because the legal and administrative requirements for expenditure were not satisfied.
He assured lawmakers that the Budget Office would continue to cooperate with the investigation by providing all relevant records and documents.
The controversy surrounding the PFIPC centres on Adeniyi Adeyemi, who publicly presented himself for months as the council’s Director-General. Photographs of him with diplomats and senior government officials circulated widely, and he reportedly operated from an office at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
Although the Presidency has insisted that the agency does not exist and has filed charges against Adeyemi, he maintains that his appointment was lawful.
Adeyemi has also denied allegations that he forged his appointment letter and accused the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, of receiving money through an intermediary in connection with the appointment. Gbajabiamila has denied the allegation and instituted legal proceedings against him.
Adeyemi was subsequently arrested in Osun State.
As part of its investigation into the N1.3 billion appropriated for the council in the 2026 budget, the House committee summoned officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), security agencies and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
Earlier this week, the CBN disclosed that it opened two domiciliary accounts for the PFIPC on the instruction of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation but said the accounts remained inactive.
CBN Director of Banking Services, Abdullahi Hamisu, told lawmakers:
“Like I said, the accounts have never been operated. As a result, there have not been any foreign exchange allocations to the council from CBN. There have not been any remittances into those two accounts. There have not been approvals because the authority has not been established for those who will operate the account.”
Also appearing before the committee, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, denied assigning personnel or office accommodation to the council.
“The request for deployment of officers was received and noted for consideration. However, there was no deployment of officers by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to the council,” she said.
She further clarified that her office did not allocate any office space to the PFIPC within the Federal Secretariat.
“While there is speculation that the council occupied office space in the Federal Secretariat Phase Three, we can state categorically that the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation did not allocate any office space to the PFIPC.”
Meanwhile, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has invited Gbajabiamila for questioning as part of its investigation into the controversy, in line with President Bola Tinubu’s directive to probe the matter.
