The Budget Office of the Federation has informed the House of Representatives that no money was released or spent from the N1.3bn allocation made to the controversial Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC) in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
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 budgetary provision attached to it.
Yakubu explained that although the National Assembly approved funding for the council, the necessary legal and administrative conditions required before accessing the funds were never fulfilled.
He said the absence of those requirements prevented any disbursement, recruitment, procurement, or expenditure linked to the council.
“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,” Yakubu said.
The Budget Office boss added that financial clearance was withheld, while approvals for recruitment and payroll were never granted.
He further stated that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation were instructed not to process any payment connected to the council.
According to him, the allocations for personnel, overhead, and capital projects did not progress beyond the approval stage because all statutory requirements for spending public funds remained unmet.
Yakubu assured lawmakers that the Budget Office would continue to support the investigation by providing relevant documents and records.
The controversy over the PFIPC erupted after Adeniyi Adeyemi publicly claimed to be the Director-General of the council, despite the Presidency maintaining that no such government agency exists.
Adeyemi had appeared in photographs with diplomats and senior government officials and was reportedly operating from an office at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
Although the Presidency disowned the council and initiated criminal proceedings against him, Adeyemi insisted that his appointment was legitimate. He also denied allegations of forging his appointment letter and accused President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, of receiving money through an intermediary in relation to the appointment.
Gbajabiamila has denied the allegation and taken legal action, while Adeyemi was later arrested in Osun State.
As part of the ongoing investigation, the House committee also summoned officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, and security agencies.
Earlier, the Central Bank of Nigeria revealed that it opened two accounts for the disputed council following instructions from the Office of the Accountant-General but confirmed that the accounts were never activated or funded.
CBN Director of Banking Services, Abdullahi Hamisu, told lawmakers that no foreign exchange allocation, remittance, or transaction was processed because authorised signatories were not appointed 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.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, dismissed claims that her office deployed workers or allocated office space 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 committee.
She also denied reports that PFIPC occupied office space at 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 (ICPC) has also commenced an investigation into the controversy following President Bola Tinubu’s directive, with Gbajabiamila among those invited for questioning.
