Central Bank Says ‘Fake’ Presidential Council PFIPC Has Two Accounts With Zero Balance Since 2025
Central Bank Says ‘Fake’ Presidential Council PFIPC Has Two Accounts With Zero Balance Since 2025
The disclosure was made on Monday by a Director at the apex bank, Hamisu Abdullahi, while appearing before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee probing allegations that the PFIPC was a fake ministry, established and operated without a valid legal framework.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has told the House of Representatives that two foreign currency accounts opened for the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) have remained dormant since their creation in 2025, with no deposits, withdrawals, or any form of financial transactions recorded
The disclosure was made on Monday by a Director at the apex bank, Hamisu Abdullahi, while appearing before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee probing allegations that the PFIPC was a fake ministry, established and operated without a valid legal framework.
Representing CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso, Abdullahi told the House Committee that the apex bank opened the accounts only after receiving a formal directive from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF).
Abdullahi stressed that CBN does not independently create accounts for ministries, departments or agencies (MDAs) without express approval from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
“As a banker to the Federal Government, the Central Bank has responsibility for opening all accounts for Ministries, Departments and Agencies, with the exception of those exempted from the Treasury Single Account,” Abdullahi told the lawmakers according to Vanguard.
“We do not have any direct engagement with any ministry, department or agency for account opening, account closure or change of account nomenclature except through the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.”
According to Abdullahi, the OAGF issued a mandate dated July 29, 2025, instructing the CBN to open two domiciliary accounts, one denominated in United States dollars and the other in Pound Sterling, for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council.
He said the accounts were subsequently opened on July 30, 2025.
However, he said they never became operational because the council failed to submit the authorised signatories required to activate them.
“Those two accounts remain inactive with zero balance and have never been operated,” Abdullahi said.
He further informed the committee that no foreign exchange allocations, remittances or other financial activities had ever passed through the accounts.
“There have been no foreign exchange allocations, no remittances, no inflows and no outflows. The accounts have maintained zero balance from inception to date,” he stated.
The CBN official also maintained that the bank never received any direct communication from the council concerning the management or operation of the accounts.
“The council had no direct correspondence with the Central Bank of Nigeria regarding the operation of the accounts,” he added.
Also appearing before the lawmakers, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, distanced her office from the establishment of the PFIPC.
Walson-Jack insisted that creating government agencies does not fall within the constitutional responsibilities of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF).
She explained that while the office is responsible for approving the administrative structures of federal agencies, it has no authority to establish such bodies.
“The approval and establishment of agencies is not within the purview of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. However, the OHCSF is responsible for approving the administrative structure of federal government agencies,” Walson-Jack said.
She noted that the council submitted an application on August 6, 2025, seeking approval for its organisational structure, but the request was rejected because it failed to provide the required documentation.
Walson-Jack disclosed, however, that during the 2025 annual manpower budget defence exercise, officials of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council requested an authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver.
She said the officials informed her office that the council already had 14 personnel, including a Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, and sought approval to begin full operations.
Walson-Jack said the request was processed together with those submitted by 87 other federal agencies and eventually received approval under the fourth batch of manpower authorisations.
The approval, Walson-Jack said, covered 314 positions, comprising the 14 officers already working with the council and an additional 300 positions.
However, she revealed that subsequent scrutiny raised concerns over the authenticity of the legal documents submitted by the council as its enabling instrument.
“It was observed that the document presented by the council as its enabling law or legal instrument did not really carry the requisite features,” she told the committee.
Walson-Jack also denied reports suggesting that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service deployed personnel to the council or allocated office accommodation to it at the Federal Secretariat Phase III.
“We wish to state that there was no deployment of staff by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to the council,” she said.
At the end of the hearing, the Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Hon. Abdulmalik Danga, directed the CBN to submit complete records relating to all accounts associated with both the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
“We want details of account activities relating to the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council as well as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council,” Danga said.
“From the opening of the accounts to their last status, this committee wants the complete records.”
The committee further instructed the apex bank to obtain and submit details of any related accounts maintained by the councils in commercial banks as part of its ongoing investigation into the legality of the PFIPC’s establishment and operations.
