Lawal: SGF should have stopped alleged fake agency before it reached Tinubu 

Babachir Lawal, Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), has called for a judicial inquiry into the controversy surrounding the alleged Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), accusing key government institutions of failing to detect what he described as a serious breach of Nigeria’s governance and budgetary oversight systems.

Speaking on Monday during an interview on Arise Television, Lawal said the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation should have identified that the agency allegedly lacked legal backing long before any correspondence reached President Bola Tinubu. He argued that the controversy points to a wider network of institutional compromise and possible abuse of public funds, insisting that powerful individuals who enabled the agency’s operations must be exposed.

The Presidency recently disowned the PFIPC, describing it as a fictitious organisation after allegations emerged linking its promoter, Adeniyi Adeyemi, to an alleged bribery scheme involving senior government officials.

Lawal maintained that established procedures within the SGF’s office require officials to verify the legal status of every ministry, department or agency before processing documents for presidential approval.

“If an agency is received, processed and forwarded without somebody asking exactly who these people are, it means there’s a dereliction of duty on the side of the SGF,” he said.

According to him, federal agencies are created through a clearly defined process that begins with presidential approval, followed by consideration by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and, where necessary, legislation establishing the agency’s legal framework. He said those procedures are specifically designed to prevent non-existent organisations from gaining official recognition.

Beyond questions about the agency’s legal status, Lawal raised fresh concerns over how the PFIPC allegedly secured a budget code and progressed through the federal budget process if it did not legally exist.

“It is institutional compromise because I sense there’s quite a big racket going on somewhere along the line,” he said.

He questioned who authorised the budget code under the government’s financial management system and how the agency was recognised by the Budget Office of the Federation despite allegedly lacking legal existence.

Every ministry, department and agency is expected to defend its budget before the Budget Office before it is transmitted to the National Assembly, he noted, arguing that such scrutiny should have exposed any irregularities.

Lawal further insisted that the Office of the SGF should have flagged the alleged fake agency before the budget reached lawmakers.

“That’s what oversight is. Unless there’s a dereliction of duty by the SGF’s office, the responsibility to flag that this is a fake agency would have come from them,” he said.

The former SGF also questioned claims made by Adeyemi that the agency received a N27.5 billion take-off grant before any budgetary allocation, saying the reported release of the funds raises even more serious questions than allegations surrounding a N1.3 billion budget insertion.

“We are just talking about the tip of the iceberg. Before we got here, N27.5 billion had already been disbursed as a take-off grant, according to him. How did that money get to him? It was not appropriated,” Lawal said.

He dismissed suggestions that existing government safeguards successfully uncovered the alleged fraud, arguing instead that the controversy only became public after disagreements among those allegedly involved.

“I think we all know that thieves and armed robbers always fight, and they expose themselves during sharing,” he said.

Lawal called on the Federal Government to establish a judicial panel of inquiry, saying an internal administrative investigation would not be sufficient to uncover the full extent of the alleged misconduct.

He also urged senior public officials linked to the controversy to step aside while investigations are ongoing, describing the measure as consistent with global best practices. Citing his own experience, Lawal recalled that he was suspended while investigations into allegations involving his tenure as SGF were conducted.

The former SGF also criticised the National Assembly, accusing lawmakers of failing to properly scrutinise the annual budget.

“This National Assembly has no interest in scrutinising the budget that comes before them. Most legislators just go there to earn their salaries and allowances,” he alleged.

Lawal concluded that the focus of the investigation should not be limited to the alleged agency or its promoter but should extend to officials within government institutions who may have facilitated its operations.

“We are talking about an agency that we are claiming doesn’t exist. Maybe it exists, but it doesn’t have a legal framework for its existence. There are powerful people who made sure it existed in that form. Those are the people we need to expose,” he said.