Phantom presidential council was inserted into the budget through an official instrument under Buhari — Budget Office

The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Dr. Yakubu Tanimu, has defended the agency’s role in the controversial budgetary allocation to the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), insisting that although the council was captured in the 2026 Appropriation Act, not a single kobo was released because the legal conditions for expenditure were never fulfilled.

Speaking before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged unlawful establishment and funding of the council on Friday, Yakubu said the Budget Office neither created the council nor approved its establishment, recruitment or staffing.

He explained that the council entered the federal budget through official government instruments originating from the Presidential Economic Advisory Council established during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari on October 9, 2019.

According to him, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation assigned the council an administrative budget code, while the Office of the Head of the Civil Service approved its establishment and recruitment waiver before the Budget Office assessed the fiscal implications.

“The Budget Office did not create the council. It did not assign its budget code. It did not approve its establishment. It did not grant its recruitment waiver. It received official instruments and did what the law required of it. It measured their fiscal effect,” he said.

Yakubu disclosed that although the council requested ₦3.8 billion for personnel costs, the Budget Office rejected the proposal and independently reduced it to ₦802.98 million using the approved establishment and public service salary structure.

He stressed that the provision never translated into actual spending because the office withheld the mandatory financial clearance required before recruitment, payroll enrolment and salary payments could commence.

“There was therefore no financial clearance. There was no lawful recruitment. There was no payroll enrolment. There was no salary payment,” he said.

The DG further stated that the ₦200 million overhead allocation remained untouched because no treasury warrants or cash backing were issued, while the ₦300 million capital allocation never advanced to the procurement stage as all statutory procurement requirements remained unmet.

According to him, the government’s financial control mechanisms functioned as designed by preventing any expenditure before public funds could be accessed.

“The law did not recover money after it had gone. It prevented the expenditure before it began,” Yakubu stated.

During the hearing, lawmakers questioned the legal basis for budgeting for the council after examining what they described as a purported Act establishing it.

Committee member, Hon. Abubakar Fulata, argued that the document lacked a gazette number, the signature of the Clerk of the National Assembly and evidence of presidential assent, insisting it was not a genuine Act of Parliament.

Responding, Yakubu maintained that the Budget Office relied strictly on official establishment approvals, recruitment waivers and directives from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission in preparing its fiscal estimates.

Chairman of the committee, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, defended the Budget Office, saying evidence before lawmakers showed the agency acted on approvals received from the relevant government institutions.

He noted that the investigation had now shifted to determining how allegedly forged documents found their way into official government processes.

“The agency satisfied all the requirements the Budget Office needed before allocating a budget. The issue now is whether those documents were genuine. That is what this committee is investigating,” Gagdi said.

The committee also announced that the Accountant-General of the Federation would appear before lawmakers on Monday to explain how the council obtained its budget code, with other government agencies expected to testify before the investigation concludes next week.

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