Fake agency: Senate rejects motion to probe N1.3bn PFIPC budget allocation

The Senate on Wednesday turned down a motion seeking a legislative investigation into the controversial N1.3 billion budgetary allocation to the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), saying it would await the outcome of the investigation ordered by President Bola Tinubu.

The motion, sponsored by Suleiman Kawu (APC, Kano South), sought an urgent inquiry into the inclusion of the PFIPC in the 2026 Appropriation Act, amid widespread controversy over the agency’s existence and the process that led to its allocation.

Raising the matter under Order 9 and Rule 9(c) of the Senate Standing Orders, 2026, Kawu said the controversy had cast doubt on the credibility of both the National Assembly and Nigeria’s budget process.

“The Senate notes with concern that, in recent weeks, the public space has been inundated with allegations, controversies, accusations and counter-accusations concerning an entity known as the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC),” he said.

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Kawu recalled that top Presidency officials had publicly described the PFIPC as a “fake,” “fictitious” and unauthorised body, yet it still appeared in the 2026 budget under Budget Code 0111062001 with an allocation of N1,302,978,784.

He explained that the amount comprised N802.98 million for personnel costs, N200 million for overhead and N300 million for capital expenditure, arguing that the development raised fundamental questions about the integrity of the appropriation process.

The lawmaker urged the Senate to denounce what he described as administrative failures, internal collaboration or possible fraudulent activities that allowed the inclusion of a purportedly non-existent agency in the national budget.

He further proposed that the Senate Committees on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, and Appropriations investigate how the allocation was initiated, scrutinised, justified and eventually approved.

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The proposed investigation, he said, should also identify the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), officials or individuals responsible for inserting the allocation and determine whether any funds had been released, committed or spent under the budget line, including whether any bank account had been opened or operated for the council.

However, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who presided over the plenary, declined to entertain debate on the motion.

Barau informed lawmakers that President Bola Tinubu had already directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the controversial allocation.

He advised the Senate to allow the anti-graft agency to conclude its work before considering any legislative intervention.

Following his ruling, the Senate rejected the motion, effectively shelving any parliamentary investigation pending the outcome of the ICPC’s probe into the N1.3 billion budget allocation.