The Budget Office of the Federation has flatly denied spending any money on the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, known as PEAC/PFIPC. Director-General Tanimu Yakubu made the statement on Friday when he testified before a House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the establishment and funding of both councils.
Yakubu explained that although the National Assembly approved budgetary allocations for the bodies, the legal and procedural requirements needed to release funds were never satisfied. "Not one kobo of the personnel provision could lawfully have been drawn, and not one kobo was drawn," he told the committee.
He stressed that the overhead and capital provisions similarly never matured into actual spending or procurement because mandatory conditions went unmet. The Budget Office withheld financial clearance, he added, and blocked all recruitment and payroll approvals.
According to Yakubu, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General received instructions to prevent all payment transactions. "The money never moved because the controls held," he said.
The director-general pledged that his office would continue assisting the House committee by submitting all records and documents supporting the Budget Office's position. He maintained that the legal and administrative safeguards prevented any expenditure from occurring.
The clarification comes as controversy swirls around the PFIPC following months of activity by Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claimed to serve as its director-general. Adeyemi appeared in photos with diplomats and prominent Nigerians circulated on social media, and the agency maintained office space at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
The Presidency has dismissed the agency's existence and charged Adeyemi with forgery. He countersued, claiming his appointment is legally valid and accusing Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila of collecting money through a middleman for the position.
Gbajabiamila denied the allegation and took legal action against Adeyemi. Police arrested Adeyemi in Osun State following the dispute.
