Budget Office explains origin of fake agency allocation

 

The Budget Office of the Federation has explained that the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, which was declared fake by the presidency and is currently under investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, originated during the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, provided the explanation in a statement after appearing before members of the House of Representatives in Abuja, detailing how the disputed agency was allocated money in the 2026 budget.

Yakubu stated, “PEAC/PFIPC did not enter the 2026 Budget merely because it asked for funds. The Council had its origin in the Presidential Economic Advisory Council inaugurated during the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari on October 9, 2019. By the time preparation of the 2026 Budget began, official instruments had already been issued by the institutions charged with those functions.”

He explained that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation had assigned an administrative code to the council, while the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had approved an authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver alongside an existing public-service salary structure.

Yakubu added, “The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation had assigned an administrative code to the PFIPC. The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had approved an authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver. The applicable public-service salary structure also existed. These instruments did not come from the Budget Office. They came to it.”

He further stressed, “The Budget Office did not create the Council. It did not assign its code. It did not approve its establishment. It did not grant its recruitment waiver. It received official instruments and did what the law required of it: it measured their fiscal effect.”

The Director-General noted that the council submitted a personnel estimate of N3,850,935,000 for the 2026 Fiscal Year, but his office rejected the figure and made an independent calculation using the authorised establishment, the approved recruitment waiver, the applicable public-service salary structure, and extant costing methodology.

Yakubu stated, “Council later submitted a personnel estimate of N3,850,935,000.00. That estimate did not form the basis of the Budget Office’s recommendation. The Budget Office disregarded it and made an independent calculation using only the authorised establishment, the approved recruitment waiver, the applicable public-service salary structure and the extant costing methodology.”

He added, “That calculation produced N802,978,783.00. This was not a concession to the Council. It was the Budget Office’s own fiscal judgment. It was the amount placed in the Executive Budget proposal and later appropriated.”

Yakubu explained that the council could not receive the approved funds for personnel because its promoter, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, failed to secure Financial Clearance, an instrument confirming that necessary fiscal and regulatory conditions have been met.

Yakubu stated, “Financial Clearance is the point at which a personnel provision may begin to acquire legal force as expenditure. It is not a routine letter. It is the confirmation that the fiscal and regulatory conditions for recruitment have been met. Until it is issued, the figure remains in the budget. It does not create staff. It does not open payroll. It does not produce salary. The Budget Office did not issue Financial Clearance for PEAC/PFIPC because the conditions were incomplete.”

He noted, “The 2026 Appropriation Bill did not become law until Presidential Assent on 31 March 2026. Before that date, the Budget Office could cost the proposal. It could not grant final Financial Clearance against a bill that had not yet become law.”

Yakubu added, “After assent, a further condition remained outstanding. The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission had not confirmed that the proposed staffing and remuneration arrangements complied with its prescribed template and the approved public-service compensation framework.”

He stated, “The Budget Office could calculate the cost. It could not open the gate. There was therefore no Financial Clearance. There was no lawful recruitment. There was no payroll enrollment. There was no salary payment.”

Addressing reports on the allocation, Yakubu clarified that the personnel provision of N802,978,783 represented 61.63 per cent of the total appropriation of N1,302,978,783, refuting claims that the council could have drawn and spent the entire sum at will.

Yakubu stated, “The personnel provision was N802,978,783.00. It represented 61.63 per cent of the total appropriation of N1,302,978,783.00. It has sometimes been described as though the Council could have received the whole amount and spent it at will. That description is false.”

He added, “Personnel appropriations are not paid to agencies as lump sums. After every legal condition has been met, salaries are paid month by month. The money moves electronically into the designated bank accounts of verified employees enrolled on the Federal Government payroll.”

Yakubu emphasized, “The institution does not receive the annual personnel provision as cash under its control. Even in a lawful process, the Council would not have received N802,978,783.00 in one payment. The money would have gone over twelve months to individual employees. That process never began. No Financial Clearance was issued. No recruitment took place. No payroll record was created. No salary became due. Not one kobo of the personnel provision could lawfully have been drawn. Not one kobo was drawn. There is no personnel expenditure to recover because there was no personnel expenditure.”

The controversy became public on June 11, 2026, when the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, declared the council fake and petitioned law enforcement agencies.

However, during a press conference on June 26, the Director-General of the council, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, faulted the disclaimer from the presidency, alleging that Gbajabiamila received N400,000,000 through a proxy and demanded an additional N200,000,000 to secure his appointment, an allegation the Chief of Staff denied before filing a N15,000,000,000 defamation lawsuit against him.

Adeyemi is currently in police custody following his arrest over the scandal and alleged forgery. Before his arrest, Adeyemi claimed he personally approached officials of the Budget Office to seek the inclusion of the council in the federal budget.

Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria confirmed that it opened two domiciliary accounts linked to the council following a directive from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, but noted that the United States dollar and British pound sterling accounts were never funded or operated.