By Admin
The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) has clarified that the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) never operated an active account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), insisting that no government funds or salaries were released to the organisation.
The clarification follows growing public scrutiny over allegations that the purported agency fraudulently secured official recognition and opened government bank accounts using forged documents.
Speaking on the development, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, explained that although an application was made to open a CBN account, the process was never completed because the required documentation to activate the account was not submitted.
According to him, while the Office of the Accountant-General initially authorised the account-opening process based on documents presented by the applicant, the account never became operational because the names of authorised signatories were never provided.
"The account has never seen the light of day. It has not received one kobo because it was never fully operational," Mokwa said, stressing that the absence of an operational account meant there was no avenue through which public funds could have been disbursed to the organisation.
He further dismissed claims that the Federal Government allocated funds or paid salaries to the agency, noting that the PFIPC had neither completed the legal requirements for receiving public funds nor recruited staff through the established procedures for federal agencies.
Mokwa explained that before any government agency can employ workers and place them on the federal payroll, it must first obtain approvals from the Federal Character Commission, the Budget Office and the Federal Civil Service Commission, after which the names of approved staff are forwarded to the OAGF for payment processing. He maintained that none of these procedures had been completed in the case of the PFIPC.
The OAGF's position comes days after the Presidency alleged that Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claimed to be Director-General of the PFIPC, fraudulently used forged government documents to facilitate the opening of CBN accounts in the name of the non-existent agency. The Presidency also stated that police investigations found no evidence that government funds were ever transferred into the accounts.
Authorities have since maintained that the PFIPC has no legal backing and that criminal proceedings against Adeyemi and two other suspects are ongoing before the Federal High Court in Abuja.