PFIPC has no CBN account, no funds released — AGF

The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has dismissed claims that the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council received public funds, insisting the body has no operational account with the Central Bank of Nigeria and has not been paid a single kobo.

The clarification follows growing controversy over the council after the 2026 Appropriation Act listed the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council under the Presidency with a budgetary allocation of N1.3bn.

The budget includes N802.98m for personnel costs, N200m for overheads and N300m for capital expenditure.

Speaking on the development, the Director of Public Relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, said although an application was made to open a CBN account for the council, the process was never completed because the required documentation was not submitted.

According to him, no account can be opened at the CBN without authorisation from the Accountant-General.

Mokwa explained that Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the council’s convener, approached the OAGF with what he described as an appointment letter relating to an already existing agency, prompting the office to begin processing the account-opening request.

However, he said the process stalled because the names of authorised account signatories were never provided, preventing the account from becoming operational.

“The account has not seen the light of day. It has not received one kobo because it was never fully activated. The Accountant-General has not released any money because there is no operational account for such payment,” Mokwa said.

He maintained that the council had not received any government allocation, noting that funding under the 2026 budget had not progressed to the stage where disbursements could be made.

The OAGF also denied reports that salaries had been paid to workers of the council, insisting no staff had been lawfully recruited into the agency.

According to Mokwa, every federal agency must first obtain approvals from the Federal Character Commission, the Budget Office and the Federal Civil Service Commission before recruiting personnel and enrolling them on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.

He explained that only after completing those processes can the names of employees be forwarded to the Office of the Accountant-General for salary payments.

“If an agency is granted a waiver to recruit, it must still obtain approvals from the relevant agencies before presenting staff details to the Accountant-General. Without those approvals, not even one employee can be captured on the payroll,” he said.

Mokwa stressed that none of the required procedures had been completed in the case of the PFIPC, making it impossible for any salaries or public funds to have been paid to the council.