Tanimu Yakubu, Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, testified before a House of Representatives committee on Friday regarding the controversial funding for the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC). He clarified that while the 2026 Appropriation Act included provisions for the agency, no money was ever distributed or spent because the necessary legal conditions remained unmet.
Addressing the House Ad-Hoc Committee, Yakubu stated that his office did not establish the council, manage its recruitment, or set its salaries. Instead, the Budget Office performed its standard duty of evaluating the fiscal impact of documents provided by other government entities. He emphasized that the agency rejected the council’s initial request for N3.8 billion in personnel costs, opting instead for a lower, independently calculated figure of approximately N802.98 million.
The Director-General insisted that this calculation was merely a fiscal estimate, not an approval for spending. He noted that because the mandatory financial clearance was never issued, there was no legal basis for payroll enrollment or salary payments. Consequently, no personnel funds were accessed. Similarly, he reported that the N200 million overhead budget and N300 million capital allocation remained untouched due to the absence of treasury warrants, cash backing, and required procurement approvals.
During the session, lawmakers scrutinized the authenticity of the documents used to justify the council’s existence. Representative Abubakar Fulata highlighted that the documentation lacked essential signatures and a gazette number, suggesting the legislation was not a valid Act of Parliament. The committee chairman, Rep. Yusuf Gagdi, concluded that the Budget Office had acted according to procedure based on the documentation it received, and the investigation would now pivot to determine how falsified documents entered the official government approval process.
