Forged state house letter used to create fake agency, Acct-General reveals

The Nigerian House of Representatives' investigation into the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council has uncovered that a forged State House letter was used to secure official government recognition for the agency. The Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamsudeen Ogunjimi, revealed this to the House Ad Hoc Committee probing the council's operations.

Ogunjimi explained that his office acted on a correspondence dated November 7, 2024, which bore a State House reference number and requested the creation of an administrative code for the council. This code was necessary for budgeting, accounting, and financial reporting. Following established procedures, the Office of the Accountant-General processed the request, created the code, and communicated its approval to the State House, with a copy sent to the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.

Subsequent requests from the purported council included applications for self-accounting status, personnel deployment, and the opening of Treasury Single and domiciliary accounts. However, Ogunjimi stressed that no public funds were ever released to the council. He stated that an application for an establishment grant of ₦27.4 billion was rejected due to a lack of budgetary provision.

Furthermore, while the Central Bank of Nigeria opened two domiciliary accounts for the organization to receive inflows, these accounts never became operational because the council failed to meet the required regulatory conditions. Lawmakers expressed concern over how the alleged fake agency managed to bypass multiple layers of government bureaucracy without raising suspicion.