The House of Representatives’ investigation into the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) took a fresh turn on Monday after the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, disclosed that a forged State House letter was used to obtain official government recognition for the purported presidential agency.
Ogunjimi made the revelation while appearing before the House Ad Hoc Committee investigating the circumstances surrounding the establishment and operations of the council, which lawmakers have described as a non-existent government agency allegedly created through forged official documents.
The Accountant-General told the committee that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) processed requests from the council because they were backed by what appeared to be authentic correspondence from the Presidency.
However, subsequent investigations showed that the letter, though carrying a State House reference number, was not issued by the Presidency.
The latest revelation adds another layer to the ongoing investigation into how the alleged fake agency secured office space within the Federal Secretariat, sought billions of naira in government funding, recruited personnel, opened official bank accounts and obtained recognition from several government institutions despite lacking any legal foundation.
Giving details of the Treasury’s dealings with the organisation, Ogunjimi said the Office of the Accountant-General first received communication from the purported council in November 2024.
According to him, the office received a letter dated November 7, 2024, requesting the creation of an administrative code for what was described as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
The administrative code, he explained, was needed to enable the organisation carry out budgeting, accounting and financial reporting in line with government financial procedures.
Ogunjimi said because the letter appeared to originate from the State House and followed the normal format of official correspondence, his office processed the request in line with established procedures.
He said the administrative code was subsequently created and the approval communicated to the State House, while a copy of the approval was also forwarded to the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
“Following the approval, several other requests came from the council, including applications for self-accounting status, deployment of personnel, opening of Treasury Single Account (TSA) and domiciliary accounts, as well as requests for funding approvals,” he told lawmakers.
Despite carrying out some administrative processes, Ogunjimi stressed that no public funds were ever released to the organisation.
“It is important to note that no funds were released under salaries, overhead, capital, or any form of intervention or special allocation to the council,” he said.
The Accountant-General also revealed that the purported agency later applied for an establishment grant of ₦27.4 billion.
According to him, the request was rejected because there was no budgetary provision to support such expenditure.
He further disclosed that although the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) opened two domiciliary accounts for the organisation to receive foreign inflows, the accounts never became operational because the council failed to meet the regulatory requirements needed for activation.
The committee expressed concern over how an organisation that allegedly had no legal existence was able to pass through several layers of government bureaucracy without raising suspicion.
Responding to lawmakers’ questions, Ogunjimi made what committee members described as one of the most important revelations of the hearing.
“The letter that was received by the Treasury was respectfully addressed as coming from the State House. That letter was never issued by the State House,” he stated.
The disclosure prompted members of the committee to conclude that individuals behind the purported agency allegedly used a forged or hijacked State House letter to deceive government institutions into processing official requests.
Lawmakers also questioned how civil servants originally posted to the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President eventually became attached to the purported council without the knowledge of the Treasury.
Explaining the situation, Ogunjimi said two officers deployed to the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser in 2010 and 2013 remained in the office after the premises were allegedly taken over by the new council.
He, however, said no official communication was sent to the Office of the Accountant-General informing it that the officers had been transferred to another organisation.
“It was never assumed or written to us that those two officers were being taken over. The staff also never reported to the office to say that another council had taken over the office and the name had changed. As far as I was concerned, we were dealing with a new agency, not the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser,” Ogunjimi explained.
He added that when the purported council later requested five additional officers, the Treasury only approved the deployment of three after assessing the size of the organisation.
“It was when all this matter came to light that I got to know that two of our staff were actually working or being absorbed by the agency. We never knew. We believed, based on the records available to us, that those officers were still with the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser,” he said.
The House committee’s investigation is focused on allegations that forged presidential approvals, fake State House correspondence, counterfeit Acts of the National Assembly and other falsified government documents were used to establish and operate both the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
The probe has attracted widespread public attention because it raises serious questions about internal controls within key government institutions and the ease with which official processes may have been manipulated.
In previous hearings, officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria confirmed that although two foreign currency accounts were opened in the name of the purported council, no money was deposited into them and the accounts remained inactive because regulatory conditions were not fulfilled.
The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had also informed lawmakers that office accommodation used by the organisation had originally been allocated to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, while the Nigeria Police Force told the committee that criminal charges bordering on conspiracy, forgery and fraud had already been filed against the prime suspect, Adeyemi Adeniyi, before the Federal High Court.
The House committee has continued to summon top government officials to determine how the alleged fake agency obtained official recognition and whether public officers aided its operations.
At Monday’s sitting, lawmakers directed the Inspector-General of Police to produce Adeyemi before the committee by noon on Wednesday to answer questions relating to the alleged forgery of official government documents and the operations of the controversial council.
The committee is expected to conclude its investigation in the coming days and submit its report to the House of Representatives, with recommendations that may include administrative sanctions, legislative reforms and criminal prosecution of individuals found to have played roles in the alleged fraud.