CBN says PFIPC accounts remained inactive despite opening two domiciliary accounts

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it opened two foreign-currency domiciliary accounts linked to the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) but maintained that the accounts were never activated and did not process any transactions.

The disclosure was made on Monday during a public hearing of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the existence and operations of the PFIPC, where lawmakers examined how the controversial agency was able to obtain some of the trappings of a legitimate government institution.

Representing the apex bank, Director of Banking Services, Hamisu Ibrahim, told the committee that the accounts, one denominated in United States dollars and the other in British pounds sterling, were opened after the bank received a mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF).

“On July 30, 2025, we received a mandate dated July 29, 2025 from the Office of the Accountant-General. We received the mandate to authorise two accounts, one a US dollar domiciliary account, the other a pound domiciliary account, for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council,” Ibrahim said.

He explained that the account opening followed the CBN’s standard internal procedures.

“The process of opening an account requires a mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

“Once we receive that mandate, we perform all the necessary verifications to confirm that this mandate is actually coming from that office.

“The department that handles the mandate is different from the department that actually does the account opening,” he added.

Despite opening the accounts, Ibrahim said they were never operational because the bank did not receive the documentation required to activate them.

“We did not receive any correspondence, mandate, signature or mandate cards. We were not introduced to the authorising or approving officers.

“Based on that, those accounts remain inactive, with zero balance. There have been no foreign exchange allocations.

“The accounts have maintained zero balance from inception to date and have never recorded any inflow or outflow,” he said, adding that the committee had been furnished with the account statements.

The CBN’s testimony differed from an earlier submission by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, who had told the panel that no accounts were opened in the name of the PFIPC.

Also appearing before the committee, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, denied that her office allocated accommodation to the council.

“There is speculation that the council occupied office space in the Federal Secretariat Phase III. We can state categorically that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation did not allocate any office space to the council.

“The office space indicated as the council’s official address forms part of the office accommodation allocated to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for the use of the OSGF and presidential bodies,” she said.

She, however, disclosed that during the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence Exercise, the council submitted additional documents through one Patricia Akhigbe, including the appointment letter of its director-general and details of its mandate. Based on the documents submitted, an authorised establishment for 314 positions and a recruitment waiver were subsequently processed.

Walson-Jack said Akhigbe had since been invited for questioning by the police, stressing that her office neither deployed personnel to the council nor approved any recruitment. She urged the committee to direct further enquiries to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Following the hearing, committee chairman Yusuf Gagdi directed that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, alongside the Inspector-General of Police, the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Justice, Budget and National Planning, the Accountant-General of the Federation and heads of relevant government agencies, appear before the panel on Thursday.

Recall that BusinessDay had earlier reported in July that President Bola Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the PFIPC controversy within 30 days. The newspaper also reported that Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, honoured the commission’s invitation and provided information to investigators as part of the ongoing probe into the alleged fake agency.