The Budget Office of the Federation has insisted that no public funds were spent on the controversial Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC), despite budgetary allocations approved for the body.
The clarification came on Friday as the Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, appeared before the House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee investigating the creation, legal status and budgetary provisions of the controversial council.
Addressing lawmakers, Yakubu maintained that although the National Assembly made budgetary provisions for the council, the agency never satisfied the legal and administrative conditions required for the release of public funds.
According to him, the country’s financial control mechanisms prevented any payment from being made.
“The conclusion is firm. Not one kobo of the personnel provision could lawfully have been drawn, and not one kobo was drawn,” Yakubu told the committee.
He explained that the overhead allocation never progressed to the stage of a lawful cash release, while the capital allocation also failed to reach the procurement or expenditure stage because the statutory requirements were never fulfilled.
“The conditions required for spending were not met and were not even close to being met. There is therefore no personnel expenditure to recover because the money never moved. The controls held,” he added.
Yakubu further disclosed that the Budget Office deliberately withheld the financial clearance required to activate the agency’s budget.
He said no recruitment was approved, no salaries were placed on the federal payroll, and the Federal Ministry of Finance as well as the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation were instructed not to process any payment linked to the council.
According to him, none of the personnel, overhead or capital allocations translated into actual spending because all legal and administrative requirements remained unmet.
He assured lawmakers that the Budget Office would continue cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation by providing all necessary records and official documents.
The latest testimony adds another twist to the growing controversy surrounding the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), whose existence has remained at the centre of multiple investigations.
The controversy erupted after Adeniyi Adeyemi publicly presented himself as the Director-General of the council for several months.
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During that period, photographs of Adeyemi with diplomats, government officials and other prominent Nigerians circulated widely on social media, while the council reportedly operated from office space within the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
Presidency Disowns Council
The Federal Government has since declared that the PFIPC was never lawfully established.
The Presidency dismissed the council as a non-existent government agency and accused Adeyemi of fraudulently presenting himself as its Director-General.
Despite the government’s position, Adeyemi has maintained that his appointment was valid and legally recognised.
He also rejected allegations that his appointment letter was forged.
The controversy escalated further after Adeyemi alleged that Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, received money from him through an intermediary to facilitate the appointment.
Gbajabiamila has strongly denied the allegation and has already filed a legal action against Adeyemi over the claims.
Meanwhile, Adeyemi was recently arrested in Osun State as investigations into the alleged operations of the controversial council continue.