James Emejo in Abuja
The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) has declared that no public funds had been released to the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).
The OAGF added that the council does not operate an active account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) contrary to reports.
The clarification came amid reports alleging that government funds and salaries had been paid to the embattled council.
Reacting to the claims, Director of Press and Public Relations, OAGF, Mr. Bawa Mokwa, said the council had neither received any budgetary allocation nor any financial disbursement from the federal government.
He explained that although an application was initiated to open a CBN account for the council, the process was never completed because the required documentation was not submitted.
According to him, no account can be opened with the apex bank without the approval of the AGF.
Mokwa disclosed that the convener of the council, Adeniyi Adeyemi, had approached the OAGF with an appointment letter, which he said was linked to an already existing agency rather than the PFIPC.
He said the account-opening process commenced based on the document presented but stalled because the names of officials designated as account signatories were never provided.
As a result, he stressed that the account never became operational, leaving the government without any channel through which funds could be transferred to the council.
Bawa told reporters, “The account, till today, has not seen the light of day. It has not seen one kobo because the account is not completely operational.
“That portrays that he has not collected a dime. The Accountant-General has not released a dime because they don’t even have a place where the money can be paid.”
He further maintained that the PFIPC was not captured in any federal budget for funding, adding that the council’s financing is only expected to come under the 2026 budget and has not reached the implementation stage.
The OAGF also dismissed reports that salaries had been paid to workers of the council, insisting that no staff had been recruited through the statutory procedures governing federal establishments.
“Based on our knowledge, he has not employed anybody,” Mokwa said.
He explained that before any federal agency can recruit personnel and place them on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), it must first secure approvals from the Federal Character Commission, the Budget Office and the Federal Civil Service Commission.
Only after obtaining the required waivers and approvals can the names of employees be forwarded to the Office of the Accountant-General for enrolment on the federal payroll and payment of salaries, he stressed.
According to him, “He cannot capture even one name without those approvals because once they are captured, payment will come from the budget,” adding that none of the required processes had been completed by the council.
The OAGF maintained that, in the absence of an operational CBN account, budgetary allocation and statutory recruitment approvals, claims that the PFIPC had received public funds or paid salaries were unfounded.
