Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, has faulted the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for allegedly failing to detect and stop documents relating to the purported Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), which has been described by the Presidency as a non-existent agency.
Lawal said the SGF’s office should have identified the alleged fake agency long before its documents reached President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, insisting that proper due diligence would have exposed the irregularity at an early stage.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television, Lawal reacted to the controversy surrounding the PFIPC, following allegations linking its promoter, Adeniyi Adeyemi, to bribery involving senior government officials.
According to the former SGF, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation serves as the clearing house for federal government agencies and is expected to verify the legal status of any institution seeking official recognition.
He argued that if the PFIPC was indeed not legally established, its documents should never have progressed through the government’s administrative process.
“If an agency is received, processed and forwarded without somebody in the SGF’s office asking exactly who these people are, then there is a dereliction of duty,” Lawal said.
He explained that the SGF’s office keeps records of all legally recognised ministries, departments and agencies and should ordinarily confirm the existence of any organisation claiming federal status before forwarding its requests to the President.
Lawal further outlined the procedure for creating federal agencies, noting that proposals are initiated by the President or a supervising minister, considered by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and, where necessary, backed by legislation before such agencies become legally recognised.
He maintained that these procedures make it difficult for a non-existent agency to gain official recognition unless there were serious institutional failures.
The former SGF also questioned how the alleged agency reportedly secured a government budget code and passed through the federal budgeting process despite claims that it had no legal backing.
Describing the development as evidence of institutional compromise, Lawal suggested that more individuals may have been involved in facilitating the process.
According to him, every ministry, department and agency is required to defend its budget before the Budget Office of the Federation, making it unlikely for a non-existent organisation to obtain budgetary recognition without insider collaboration.
He queried who approved the budget code for the alleged agency and how its proposal advanced through official channels before reaching the National Assembly.
Lawal insisted that the SGF’s office should also have detected the anomaly before the budget proposal was transmitted to lawmakers.
Beyond the budget controversy, Lawal expressed concern over allegations that the promoter of the PFIPC had earlier received a ₦27.5 billion take-off grant before any appropriation by the National Assembly.
He argued that if such a payment was actually made, it would represent a more serious breach of public financial procedures than the controversy surrounding the reported budget allocation.
“The money was allegedly released before any budget was approved. Who authorised the payment? It was not appropriated. How did the funds leave government coffers?” he asked.
The former SGF called for the establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the entire matter, saying only an independent probe could uncover the full extent of the alleged irregularities and identify everyone involved.
He also supported calls for public officials linked to the controversy to temporarily step aside while investigations continue, describing the practice as a standard accountability measure.
Drawing from his own experience, Lawal recalled that he was suspended while investigations into allegations against him were ongoing during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
He further criticised the National Assembly for allegedly failing to thoroughly scrutinise the federal budget, arguing that effective legislative oversight should have detected any questionable allocation to an agency that allegedly lacked legal existence.
Lawal said that the controversy had exposed significant loophole in Nigeria’s institutional oversight system and underscored the need for stronger accountability mechanisms to prevent similar occurrences in the future.