President Bola Tinubu has directed a comprehensive forensic investigation into the creation and operation of the fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), following findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The directive was disclosed on Wednesday by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by the president at the State House in Abuja.
Oyedele said the investigation would examine the administrative, accounting and governance processes that allowed the purported agency to secure official recognition and operate within government structures.
According to him, the investigation would also focus on weaknesses in internal controls and determine how such lapses could be prevented in the future.
The minister said the Attorney-General of the Federation and his office had been directed to work with relevant government institutions to conduct a holistic review of the matter.
He said the president had specifically ordered that the investigation extend to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), amid concerns that the existence of fake agencies could also point to the presence of fictitious employees on the federal payroll.
“Mr President directed that the review should extend to IPPIS, because if you have fake agencies, you most likely have fake employees,” Oyedele said.
He added that the government could not afford to have fictitious personnel undermining efforts to improve the payment of salaries and allowances to genuine civil servants.
Oyedele disclosed that N9.495 trillion in subsidy savings and incremental revenue had been used for additional salary and allowance payments to civil servants.
He said the figure was higher than the actual savings the federal government generated from the removal of the fuel subsidy.
The minister said the purported PFIPC had gone beyond merely being a fictitious organisation, noting that its operators allegedly obtained an administrative code and a Treasury Single Account (TSA) code.
He, however, said no funds were paid into the accounts associated with the purported agency.
“It’s gone too far to even get to that level. Now the idea is we want to find out what went wrong and strengthen the system,” Oyedele said.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed that the ICPC findings indicated that the problem extended beyond the PFIPC.
Idris said the investigation identified at least two other fictitious agencies that had entered government processes, prompting the president to order a wider review of the administrative and accounting systems.
He said professional audit firms would be engaged to conduct a forensic assessment aimed at identifying and permanently addressing the weaknesses that enabled the scandal.
According to Idris, the government was also concerned that the development could predate the Tinubu administration.
“I want you to know that this didn’t just happen now. This may date back longer than when the president was in office,” he said.
He added that the president wanted to determine whether similar cases had occurred in other parts of the federal government and develop measures to prevent a recurrence.
The controversy surrounding the PFIPC came to public attention after Adeniyi Adeyemi reportedly presented himself as its Director-General, while the purported organisation operated from an office within the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
The matter subsequently came under scrutiny during an investigation by a House of Representatives ad hoc committee chaired by Yusuf Gagdi.
The committee sought to determine how an organisation without an established legal foundation could operate as a government agency and gain access to official government processes.
The controversy deepened following allegations that about N1.3 billion had been allocated to the purported agency in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
The House consequently constituted the ad hoc committee to investigate the creation of the organisation, its inclusion in the national budget and whether officials or government institutions facilitated its operations.
Meanwhile, the FEC also approved three Double Taxation Avoidance Treaties involving Nigeria and Ghana, Tanzania and Switzerland.
Oyedele said the agreements were designed to expand opportunities for Nigerian businesses investing abroad while making Nigeria more attractive to investors from the affected countries.
He said the federal government was working towards developing a stronger network of tax treaties, noting that South Africa currently has more than 60 such agreements.
The council also approved a $1.25 billion financing facility from the International Development Association and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to support Nigeria’s Actions for Investment and Job Acceleration development policy financing.
Oyedele described the facility as concessional, with repayment spread over about 30 years, and said it would support efforts to accelerate job creation.
