Fake agency's domiciliary accounts never active

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has informed the House of Representatives that two foreign currency accounts opened for the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) were never activated and have remained inactive since their creation.

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Officials of the CBN disclosed this on Monday whilst appearing before the House Ad Hoc Committee investigating the legality and operations of the council, which lawmakers suspect was established and operated outside the legal framework governing federal agencies.

The committee, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi (APC), is examining allegations that the PFIPC lacked the statutory approvals required for its establishment and operation. The panel was inaugurated by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, represented by House Leader Julius Ihonvbere.

Representing CBN

Governor Olayemi Cardoso, Director Hamisu Abdullahi, told lawmakers that the bank opened United States dollar and pound sterling domiciliary accounts after receiving a formal mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) in July 2025.

He explained that the CBN, as banker to the federal government, only opens accounts for ministries, departments and agencies upon receiving authorisation from the OAGF and does not entertain such requests directly from government institutions.

According to him, the bank verified the authenticity of the OAGF’s request before opening the accounts and subsequently notified the OAGF, which was expected to communicate the development to the council.

However, Mr Abdullahi said the PFIPC had never completed the required documentation to activate the accounts.

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He stated that the council failed to submit authorised signatories, signature mandate cards and other mandatory documents, including the formal introduction of its chief executive, preventing the accounts from becoming operational.

“As a result, the accounts have remained inactive with zero balances and have never been operated,” he told the committee.

He added that neither account recorded any deposits, withdrawals, foreign-exchange allocations, remittances, inflows, or outflows, stressing that there were no transactions to report because the accounts were never activated.

Mr Abdullahi also informed lawmakers that the account numbers, statements and other relevant banking records had already been forwarded to the committee as part of the CBN’s written submission.

‘We didn’t allocate office space’

Earlier, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Didi Esther Walson-Jack, told the committee that the council had never approved its organisational structure, despite having obtained an authorised establishment of 314 personnel.

She explained that although the Office of the Head of the Civil Service is responsible for approving organisational structures for federal agencies, the PFIPC’s request, submitted in August 2025, was rejected for lacking the necessary supporting documents.

“The request for deployment of officers was received and noted for consideration. However, there was no deployment of officers by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to the council,” she said.

According to her, the council nevertheless secured an authorised establishment through the annual workforce budgeting process after presenting documents, including the appointment letter of its director-general, a document describing its mandate and evidence that it had been captured in the federal budget.

She said the authorised establishment provided for 14 existing officers and 300 additional positions.

Mrs Walson-Jack, however, said it was later discovered that the document presented by the council as its enabling legal instrument lacked the legal features required to establish a federal government agency.

She also clarified that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service never deployed personnel to the council, despite having received a request to second officers.

“We also wish to state that recruitment and placement of staff in agencies or into agencies is not under the purview of the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. It is the responsibility of the agencies to recruit and carry out proper placement of their staff,” she said.

The civil service chief further told lawmakers that her office had no record of any request from the PFIPC seeking approval for conditions of service, adding that issues relating to the creation, supervision and reporting structure of presidential councils fall outside its statutory responsibilities.

According to her, whilst the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation is responsible for approving agencies’ conditions of service, there is no record of such a request from the council.

“Meanwhile, remuneration and emoluments of personnel are not under the purview of the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation but under the purview of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission,” she said.

She noted that the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission is responsible for the remuneration of political appointees and chief executive officers.

Background

The probe follows allegations that the PFIPC, a phantom agency in Nigeria that allegedly never legally existed yet secured office space in Abuja’s Federal Secretariat, opened CBN accounts and secured a ₦1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 national budget. Adeyemi Adeniyi, the self-styled director-general, was arrested in Osun State in mid-July 2026 after evading court summons for forgery and impersonation.

The fake body operated like a legitimate government office, hosting foreign ambassadors, recruiting staff and engaging with federal departments.