The Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Tanimu Yakubu, has told the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee probing the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) that no public funds were released to the agency, insisting that the Budget Office allocated funds to the council in the 2026 budget strictly in line with relevant government instruments.
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Yakubu stated this on Friday when he appeared before the committee investigating the inclusion of the PFIPC, an agency the Federal Government has disowned, in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
The PFIPC has dominated public discourse in recent times after the Presidency disowned the agency, amid revelations that it received a N1.3 billion appropriation in the 2026 budget and opened accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The controversy became public after the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, disowned Adeniyi Adeyemi and the PFIPC, and President Bola Tinubu ordered the ICPC to probe the matter. The Nigerian Police Force last week arrested Adeyemi, the disowned Director-General of the non-existent council, hours after Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja issued a warrant for his arrest following an oral application by the prosecution lawyer, Wisdom Madaki. The Federal Government had accused Adeyemi of operating the purported PFIPC, an agency it said does not exist.
Owing to this, the Budget Office came under scrutiny over its role in the appropriation.
In a detailed clarification on the council’s appropriation in the 2026 budget, Yakubu traced the origin of the controversial agency to its institutional root in the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari on 9th October 2019.
He noted that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation assigned an administrative budget code to the agency, which gave it identity “within the Federal Government’s budget architecture.”
The DG maintained that his office neither created nor established the council, insisting that it merely discharged its statutory responsibility by costing personnel requirements based on official government instruments already issued by the appropriate authorities.
Yakubu said that although the National Assembly approved funds for the body, the legal and administrative conditions required to access public funds were never fulfilled. He stressed that the appropriated amount remained only a statutory provision and never became an expenditure, stating that the country’s public finance safeguards worked exactly as designed by stopping the release of funds before any payment could occur.
He explained that no expenditure had been made from the appropriated fund, as no financial clearance or procurement clearance was issued because the required conditions were incomplete before controversy broke over the legal status of the agency. According to him, “not one kobo” of the personnel allocation was drawn, while neither the overhead nor capital provisions matured into lawful releases.
He said, “An appropriation is authority in law to make provision for an expenditure. It is not a cheque. It is not a warrant. It is not cash released from the Treasury. Before money can move, other conditions must be met. Different institutions must act. Each must complete its own part. If one condition fails, the chain stops. That is what happened here.
“Until Financial Clearance is issued, a personnel provision remains a figure in the budget. It cannot create employees. It cannot place anyone on payroll. It cannot produce a salary payment.”
The DG explained that public debate had wrongly assumed that once an appropriation appeared in the budget, the beneficiary automatically gained access to the funds. According to him, appropriation merely provides legal authority for possible expenditure and should not be mistaken for a warrant, cash release or payment from the treasury.
Yakubu explained that before any government agency could spend public funds, several statutory institutions must independently complete their responsibilities, including approvals relating to establishment, remuneration, financial clearance, warrants, cash backing and procurement.
According to him, “the public finance system does not allow one office to create an agency, approve its staff, place them on payroll, release money, procure assets and spend the appropriation. Those powers are divided. The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation deals with establishment and recruitment approvals.
“The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission regulates remuneration. The Budget Office assesses fiscal implications and issues Financial Clearance when the conditions are met. The Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation control warrants, releases, cash backing and payment. The procurement authorities govern capital expenditure.”
He further noted that because the expenditure process was deliberately divided among different government institutions, no single office could create an agency, recruit staff, approve salaries, release funds and authorise expenditure simultaneously. According to him, the PEAC/PFIPC case never progressed beyond the appropriation stage because the chain of approvals required under Nigerian public finance laws never opened.
Providing details of the figures, Yakubu disclosed that although the council initially requested ₦3,850,935,000.00 as personnel cost in the 2026 fiscal year, the Budget Office rejected that estimate and independently computed personnel requirements using approved government staffing templates and salary structures.
That exercise, he said, produced a personnel estimate of ₦802,978,783.00, which formed part of the Executive Budget proposal and was subsequently appropriated by the National Assembly, while ₦200,000,000.00 and ₦300,000,000.00 were budgeted for overhead and capital respectively.
He maintained that the figure was an independent fiscal determination by the Budget Office and not a negotiated reduction of the council’s request.
Yakubu further explained that despite the appropriation, financial clearance, the mandatory approval required before recruitment and salary payments can commence, was never issued, because critical statutory conditions remained outstanding.
Among them, he noted, was the fact that the 2026 appropriation bill had not received presidential assent until March 31, 2026, while the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) had also not completed confirmation that the proposed staffing and remuneration structure complied with approved public service compensation frameworks.
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