No kobo was spent on PEAC, PFIPC, Budget office tells Reps

The Budget Office of the Federation has told the House of Representatives that none of the funds appropriated for the controversial Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council was released or spent.

The Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, disclosed this on Friday while appearing before the House ad hoc committee investigating the establishment of the council and the N1.3 billion budgetary allocation made to it in the 2026 Appropriation Act, Channels TV reports.

Yakubu explained that although the National Assembly approved funding for the council, the legal and administrative requirements needed before any money could be accessed 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.

“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 said.

He stated that the Budget Office withheld financial clearance, while no recruitment or payroll approval was granted.

He added that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation were also directed not to process any payment linked to the council.

According to Yakubu, allocations for personnel, overhead and capital projects never progressed to the implementation stage because all statutory conditions for spending public funds remained unmet.

He assured the lawmakers that the Budget Office would continue to cooperate with the investigation by providing all relevant records and documentation.

The controversy surrounding the PFIPC began after Adeniyi Adeyemi publicly presented himself as the Director-General of the council, despite the Presidency insisting that no such agency exists.

Adeyemi had been seen in photographs with diplomats and senior government officials and reportedly operated from an office within the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.

Although the Presidency disowned the agency and instituted criminal proceedings against him, Adeyemi maintained that his appointment was valid. He 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 action, while Adeyemi was subsequently arrested in Osun State.

As part of its ongoing probe, the House committee also invited officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, and security agencies.

Earlier this week, the Central Bank disclosed that it opened two accounts for the disputed council on the instruction of the Office of the Accountant-General but confirmed that neither account had been activated or received any funds.

CBN Director of Banking Services, Abdullahi Hamisu, told the committee that no foreign exchange allocation, remittance or transaction had been processed because no authorised signatories were designated to operate the accounts.

“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,” Hamisu said.

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, also denied claims that her office allocated office accommodation or posted personnel 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 told the lawmakers.

She also dismissed reports that the council occupied office space 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,” she said.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has also launched an investigation into the matter in line with President Bola Tinubu’s directive, with Gbajabiamila among those invited for questioning.