The Budget Office of the Federation stopped a N1.3 billion payment to the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council before any money left the treasury, the agency revealed. Federal financial controls locked the funds after discovering the council lacked the necessary regulatory approvals to receive them.
Tanimu Yakubu, the Budget Office director-general, said the N1.3 billion was included in the 2026 Appropriation Act but never released. The decision came after the council failed to meet mandatory conditions for accessing public money.
The PFIPC operated from offices at the Federal Secretariat and hired staff as if it were a legitimate government body. Yet it had no formal presidential declaration or legal backing to justify its existence.
The scandal deepened when Femi Gbajabiamila, the president's chief of staff, publicly rejected the council, telling Nigerians it doesn't exist under the current administration. Adeyemi, a key promoter of the body, then accused Gbajabiamila of bribery before police arrested him on forgery charges.
The Central Bank of Nigeria separately confirmed it opened two unfunded foreign currency accounts for the council after receiving orders from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. Both accounts remained empty and non-operational.
Yakubu traced the PFIPC's origins to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council created in 2019. The Accountant-General's office later assigned it a budget code, and the Head of Civil Service granted it permission to recruit staff.
The Budget Office slashed the council's initial request of N3.85 billion for personnel costs. Instead, it approved N802.9 million for salaries, N200 million for overhead expenses, and N300 million for capital spending.
Getting money into the budget didn't mean the council could spend it, Yakubu stressed. The agency withheld final financial clearance after the president signed the appropriation act on March 31, 2026, because the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission never verified the council's pay structure.
"Until financial clearance is issued, a personnel provision remains a figure in the budget," the agency stated in its explanation. "It cannot create employees, place anyone on payroll, or produce salary payment."
Standard public spending controls worked as intended, the Budget Office insisted. Cash releases for overhead costs were blocked, and capital allocations never advanced to the procurement stage.
No government funds were disbursed to the council, no staff joined any payroll, and no salaries were ever paid out. The system functioned exactly as designed.
