The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have distanced themselves from the establishment and operations of the alleged Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), as investigations by the House of Representatives continued on Monday.
The institutions made the disclosures before the House Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged creation of the council without a valid legal framework.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, told the committee that the OHCSF had no constitutional mandate to establish government agencies, noting that such responsibilities rested with relevant authorities.
A representative of the office said, “The approval and establishment of agencies is not within the purview of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. However, the OHCSF is responsible for approving the administrative structure of federal government agencies.”
The office disclosed that the council applied for approval of its organisational structure on August 6, 2025, but the request was not granted because the required supporting documents were not provided.
“From our records, the council submitted a request to the OHCSF for approval of its organisational structure on the 6th of August, 2025, without providing the requisite documents. Consequently, the request was not granted,” the official told lawmakers.
The OHCSF, however, confirmed that officials of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC)/PFIPC had requested an authorised establishment and recruitment waiver during the 2025 annual manpower budget defence exercise.
According to the office, the council informed officials that it had been operating mainly with personnel deployed or seconded from other government institutions.
The committee was told that the council requested approval for 314 positions, comprising 14 existing officers and 300 additional positions, which was later issued as part of manpower approvals granted to federal agencies.
The OHCSF also revealed that it subsequently discovered irregularities in documents presented by the council as its legal foundation.
“It was observed that the document presented by the council as its enabling law or legal instrument did not really carry the requisite features,” the representative said.
Walson-Jack further denied allegations that civil servants were deployed to the council by her office, adding that the OHCSF did not allocate office accommodation to the body.
“We wish to state that there was no deployment of staff by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to the council,” she said.
The office also stated that issues concerning the establishment and supervision of the council fell under the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and other relevant institutions.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria disclosed that two foreign currency accounts opened for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council remained inactive and had zero balance.
A Director at the CBN, Hamisu Abdullahi, who represented the apex bank’s governor, told lawmakers that the accounts were opened based on a mandate received from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
He explained that the CBN only opens accounts for government agencies upon receiving formal authorisation from the Accountant-General’s office.
“On July 30, 2025, we received a mandate dated July 29, 2025, from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to open one United States dollar domiciliary account and one Pound Sterling domiciliary account,” Abdullahi said.
He, however, said the accounts were never activated because the council failed to provide authorised signatories.
“Those two accounts remain inactive with zero balance and have never been operated,” he said.
Abdullahi added that the accounts had recorded no financial transactions, including foreign exchange allocations, remittances, inflows or outflows, since they were opened.
He also informed the committee that the council had no direct correspondence with the CBN regarding the operation of the accounts.
Following the submissions, Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Hon. Abdulmalik Danga, directed the CBN to provide detailed records of all transactions linked to the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
“We want details of account activities relating to the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council as well as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council. From the opening of the accounts to their last status, this committee wants the complete records,” Danga said.
The committee also directed the apex bank to obtain information on any related accounts operated through commercial banks as part of efforts to conclude its investigation into the establishment and activities of the council.
