President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive forensic investigation into the creation of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and other fictitious agencies discovered within the Federal Government’s system.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed this on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting, presided over by President Tinubu, was the first FEC session since June 29.
Oyedele said the directive followed an update presented to the President on investigations conducted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
According to him, the investigation revealed that the fake council was not an isolated incident, prompting the President to order a wider review of government processes, procedures and internal controls.
“That is to do with the fake agency that is called the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council. Mr President gave us the updates about the work the ICPC has done, and as a result of that, the council has directed that we commission a forensic investigation that will look into our processes, our procedures, internal control weaknesses that allow some of these things to happen,” Oyedele said.
He added that the review would determine how the fictitious agencies were created, identify weaknesses in the system and recommend measures to prevent a recurrence.
Oyedele said the President had also directed that the investigation extend to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), amid concerns that fictitious agencies could potentially be linked to ghost workers on the government payroll.
“Mr President directed that the review should extend to IPPIS, because if you have fake agencies, you most likely have fake employees,” he said.
The minister disclosed that N9.495 trillion generated through subsidy savings and increased government revenue had been used to fund additional salaries and allowances for civil servants.
He said the figure exceeded the actual savings recorded from the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Oyedele further disclosed that the fictitious agencies had managed to obtain administrative and Treasury Single Account (TSA) codes, although no government funds were ultimately paid into the accounts associated with them.
“They managed to register and obtain an administrative code as well as a TSA code. The only thing that didn’t happen was that we didn’t pay any money to those accounts,” he said.
He said the development nevertheless represented a serious breach of government controls because the entities had progressed far enough within the administrative system to obtain official codes.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, and the Ministry of Finance have been directed to work with relevant government institutions to address the matter from administrative, accounting and governance perspectives.
ICPC Finds More Fake Agencies
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said findings from the ICPC investigation showed that the problem went beyond the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.
Idris disclosed that investigators had identified at least two additional fictitious agencies within the government system.
“The President was informed that it is not just about the so-called Presidential Foreign Promotion Council and the fake DG that was there, but that there were at least two additional fake agencies that were in that process,” he said.
He explained that the findings raised concerns about weaknesses in government’s administrative and accounting systems.
According to Idris, Tinubu directed the Attorney-General and the Finance Minister to jointly examine the relevant procedures and engage professional audit firms to conduct a comprehensive forensic review.
The minister said the exercise was intended to identify and permanently close the loopholes that allowed the fictitious agencies to penetrate government systems.
He also stressed that the issue might predate the Tinubu administration, saying the President had directed that the review should examine whether similar incidents had occurred elsewhere within the Federal Government.
“The President is not just looking at this; he is looking at the possibility that this may also have occurred elsewhere, and trying to find a solution that will block this from recurring going forward,” Idris said.
The forensic investigation is expected to examine the administrative, accounting and payroll processes involved in the creation and recognition of the fictitious agencies and determine how the system can be strengthened against future abuse.