By Felix Olukayode
The House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee investigating the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) has summoned the Accountant-General of the Federation to appear on Monday as it shifts its probe to how the council obtained a federal budget code. The move followed the committee’s conclusion that no money was released to the council by the Budget Office despite a N1.32 billion provision in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
Committee Chairman, Rep. Yusuf Gagdi, said the evidence before lawmakers showed the Budget Office acted within the law and only made budgetary provisions after receiving the required approvals from relevant government agencies. “The question is whether the Budget Office allocated budget to this agency without the agency satisfying the requirements. The answer, based on the documents before us, is no. I repeat, no,” he said.
Appearing before the panel on Friday, Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, insisted that no public funds were ever released to the council because the statutory conditions for spending were never met. “There was no financial clearance. There was no lawful recruitment. There was no payroll enrolment. There was no salary payment,” he told lawmakers.
Yakubu explained that while the council requested N3.8 billion for personnel costs, the Budget Office independently reduced the figure to about N803 million based on the approved establishment and public service salary structure. However, he stressed that neither the personnel allocation nor the N200 million overhead and N300 million capital votes were accessed, as treasury warrants, cash backing, and procurement approvals were never issued. “The law did not recover money after it had gone. It prevented the expenditure before it began,” he said.
Lawmakers also questioned the legal basis for the council’s budget after examining what they described as a purported Act establishing the PFIPC. Committee member Rep. Abubakar Fulata argued that the document was not a valid Act of Parliament because it lacked a gazette number, the signature of the Clerk of the National Assembly, and presidential assent.
Gagdi said the investigation has now moved beyond the Budget Office to uncover how forged documents entered official government processes and how the PFIPC secured a budget code. He said the Accountant-General and other key agencies would appear before the committee as it wraps up the investigation next week, declaring: “The issue now is whether those documents were genuine. That is what this committee is investigating.”