N1.3bn PEAC/PFIPC funds never left treasury, says Budget Office

The Budget Office of the Federation has clarified that the N1.303 billion appropriated for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC) was never converted into government expenditure, insisting that Nigeria’s public finance controls prevented any cash release, payroll payment or procurement from taking place.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, said although the National Assembly appropriated funds for the council, the legal provision did not progress beyond the appropriation stage because statutory conditions required to activate spending were never fulfilled.

The clarification comes amid investigations into the alleged fake Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council and concerns over the council’s inclusion in the 2026 Appropriation Act.

Yakubu explained that an appropriation merely authorises expenditure in law and does not amount to a Treasury warrant, cash release or payment.

“An appropriation is authority in law to make provision for an expenditure. It is not a cheque. It is not a warrant. It is not cash released from the Treasury,” he stated.

He said Nigeria’s public finance architecture deliberately separates responsibilities among various government institutions, making it impossible for a single office to create an agency, approve recruitment, authorise payroll, release funds and execute expenditure without multiple statutory approvals.

According to the Budget Office, the N802.98 million personnel allocation, representing 61.63 per cent of the total appropriation, never became salary expenditure because Financial Clearance was not issued.

The office explained that although the council requested N3.85 billion for personnel costs, it independently reviewed the proposal and reduced the amount to N802.98 million based on the approved establishment, recruitment waiver and existing public service salary structure before it was included in the Executive Budget.

However, following the signing of the 2026 Appropriation Act on March 31, 2026, the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission had yet to validate the proposed staffing and remuneration framework, preventing the Budget Office from issuing the mandatory Financial Clearance.

As a result, no recruitment took place, no employee was enrolled on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), and no salary payments were made.

The Budget Office also disclosed that the N200 million overhead allocation never matured into a cash release.

It said that after questions emerged in June regarding the legal status of the council, it formally instructed the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to withhold all payment instruments relating to the appropriation.

Similarly, the N300 million capital provision never progressed into procurement because no procurement plan was approved, no Ministerial Tenders Board considered any transaction, no Certificate of No Objection was issued where required, and no Treasury warrant or cash backing followed.

Yakubu maintained that the expenditure control framework functioned exactly as intended, preventing public funds from leaving government coffers despite the appropriation.

“The controls did not discover a loss after the event. They prevented the event. They did not chase money after it had gone. They kept it from moving,” he said.

The Budget Office added that it would continue to cooperate with ongoing investigations and provide all relevant records, computations and correspondence to establish that no public funds were disbursed.

The clarification follows the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) investigation into the alleged fake Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council after President Bola Tinubu directed the anti-graft agency to investigate allegations of forged appointment letters, unauthorised government documents and the operation of bank accounts linked to the purported council.

The Budget Office insisted that while Parliament approved the appropriation, every statutory safeguard within Nigeria’s public finance system prevented the funds from becoming actual government expenditure.