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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Economy & Trade

We rejected fake agency’s N3.8bn personnel costs – Budget Office

From The Punch · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • The Budget Office of the Federation rejected the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council's request for N3.8bn in personnel costs.
  • The office instead computed a lower figure of N802.98m, but no funds were released as statutory conditions were not met.
  • The Director-General stated that Nigeria's public financial management safeguards functioned effectively to prevent unauthorized expenditure.

The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, informed the House of Representatives that the office refused a N3.8 billion personnel cost request from the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC). Yakubu clarified that the Budget Office independently calculated a figure of N802.98 million based on approved establishments and public service salary structures.

That estimate did not form the basis of the Budget Office’s recommendation. The Budget Office rejected it and made an independent calculation. That calculation produced N802.98m. This was not a concession to the council. It was the Budget Office’s own fiscal proposal.

— Tanimu YakubuClarifying the Budget Office's independent calculation of personnel costs for the PFIPC.

Yakubu's statement came as he appeared before a House Ad-Hoc Committee investigating the alleged unlawful establishment and funding of the PFIPC. He explained that while the council was allocated approximately N1.32 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act, no funds were disbursed because the necessary statutory conditions for accessing public funds were not fulfilled.

"That estimate did not form the basis of the Budget Office’s recommendation. The Budget Office rejected it and made an independent calculation. That calculation produced N802.98m. This was not a concession to the council. It was the Budget Office’s own fiscal proposal," Yakubu stated. He emphasized that the personnel allocation never resulted in expenditure because the mandatory financial clearance for recruitment and salary payments was never issued.

There was therefore no financial clearance. There was no lawful recruitment. There was no payroll enrolment. There was no salary payment.

— Tanimu YakubuExplaining why the personnel allocation for the PFIPC did not translate into expenditure.

Furthermore, the DG revealed that the council's N200 million overhead allocation and N300 million capital allocation were also not released. Treasury warrants, cash backing, and statutory procurement procedures were not completed, preventing any expenditure. Yakubu asserted that this situation demonstrated the effectiveness of Nigeria’s public financial management safeguards, which prevented expenditure before it began rather than recovering funds after they were spent. The Budget Office maintained its role was limited to assessing fiscal implications of approvals from other government institutions.

The law did not recover money after it had gone. It prevented the expenditure before it began.

— Tanimu YakubuMaintaining that Nigeria’s public financial management safeguards functioned as intended by preventing unauthorized spending.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Punch. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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