Fake agency originated from Buhari government, Budget Office explains PFIPC allocation

The Budget Office of the Federation has clarified the circumstances surrounding the allocation of funds to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC). The office explained that the PFIPC, recently declared fake by the presidency and under investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), originated during the previous administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“

PEAC/PFIPC did not enter the 2026 Budget merely because it asked for funds. The Council had its origin in the Presidential Economic Advisory Council inaugurated during the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari on October 9, 2019.

According to the Director-General of the Budget Office, Mr. Tanimu Yakubu, the PFIPC's institutional roots trace back to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council established on October 9, 2019. He stated that by the time the 2026 budget preparation began, official instruments had already been issued by relevant institutions. These included an administrative code assigned by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and an authorized establishment and recruitment waiver approved by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

“

The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation had assigned an administrative code to the PFIPC. The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had approved an authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver. The applicable public-service salary structure also existed. These instruments did not come from the Budget Office. They came to it.

Yakubu emphasized that the Budget Office did not create the council, assign its code, approve its establishment, or grant its recruitment waiver. Instead, the office received these official instruments and measured their fiscal impact as required by law. The council submitted a personnel estimate of N3.850 billion for the 2026 fiscal year, but the Budget Office reduced this to N802.978 million based on its independent calculation using the authorized establishment, waiver, salary structure, and costing methodology.

“

The Budget Office did not create the Council. It did not assign its code. It did not approve its establishment. It did not grant its recruitment waiver. It received official instruments and did what the law required of it: it measured their fiscal effect.

The Budget Office stated that its calculation was not a concession but its own fiscal judgment, which was then included in the Executive Budget proposal and subsequently appropriated. The office is cooperating with the ongoing ICPC investigation into the matter.

“

Council later submitted a personnel estimate of N3,850,935,000.00. That estimate did not form the basis of the Budget Office’s recommendation. The Budget Office disregarded it and made an independent calculation using only the authorised establishment, the approved recruitment waiver, the applicable public-service salary structure and the extant costing methodology.