The Budget Office of the Federation has told the House of Representatives that no funds appropriated for the disputed Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC) were spent.
Appearing before the House ad hoc committee investigating the council’s establishment and budgetary provisions, Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, said although the National Assembly approved funding, the statutory conditions required for releasing or spending the money were never met.
Yakubu said no personnel, overhead or capital funds were disbursed because the necessary legal and administrative requirements were not fulfilled.
“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,” he said.
He explained that the Budget Office withheld financial clearance, approved no recruitment or payroll, and directed the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to withhold all payment instruments.
Yakubu added that the office would continue to cooperate with the House committee by providing all relevant records and documents.
The controversy centres on the PFIPC, whose alleged Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi, publicly presented himself as the agency’s head for several months, meeting diplomats and prominent Nigerians while operating from an office at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
The Presidency has maintained that the agency does not exist, filed charges against Adeyemi and accused him of forging his appointment letter.
Adeyemi, however, insists his appointment is valid and has alleged that the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, received money through an intermediary to facilitate the appointment. Gbajabiamila has denied the allegation and instituted legal action against him.
Adeyemi was later arrested in Osun State.
As part of its investigation, the House committee invited officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria, security agencies and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
The CBN disclosed on Monday that it opened two accounts for the disputed agency on the instruction of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation but said the accounts never received any inflows or remittances and were never operated.
Similarly, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, told lawmakers that her office neither allocated office space at the Federal Secretariat nor deployed staff to the PFIPC.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission is also investigating the matter following a directive from President Bola Tinubu.