By Augustine Aminu
Nigeria’s public finance control systems successfully intercepted and blocked the disbursement of N1.302 billion allocated to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC) in the 2026 Appropriation Act, preventing unverified state expenditure.
Addressing the controversy surrounding the allocation, Tanimu Yakubu, Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, clarified in a statement that zero public funds were spent or lost, emphasizing the distinct legal separation between budgetary appropriation and actual cash disbursement.
According to the Budget Office, public funds cannot exit the Federal Government Treasury without passing a strict series of legal and administrative gates.
“ For PEAC/PFIPC, none of the statutory conditions were met:
No personnel costs disbursed: While the council originally submitted a personnel proposal of N3.85 billion, the Budget Office slashed it to N802.98 million based on standard public service salary benchmarks.
“However, because the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission never confirmed regulatory compliance, mandatory financial clearance was withheld—meaning no recruitment, payroll enrolment, or salary disbursements occurred.
“The N200 million overhead allocation was halted after the Budget Office formally directed the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to suspend all payment triggers following legal status inquiries.
“The N300 million capital component never materialized into expenditure, lacking procurement approvals under the Public Procurement Act, including Ministerial Tenders Board clearance, Bureau of Public Procurement Certificates of No Objection, treasury warrants, or cash backing,” he stated.
Highlighting the preventive function of Nigeria’s Treasury framework following presidential assent to the budget on March 31, 2026, Yakubu noted: “The law did not recover money after it had gone. It prevented the money from going.”
The Budget Office reaffirmed that because no salaries were disbursed, overheads released, or capital projects executed, there are no funds to recover.
The agency expressed full readiness to partner with any lawful investigative body by providing official computations, records, and correspondence to confirm the account.
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