The House of Representatives has launched an investigation into the alleged insertion of a non-existent government agency, the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), into the 2026 budget framework with a purported allocation of over N1.3 billion.
The decision followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Rep. Yusuf Gagdi during plenary on Wednesday.
Presenting the motion, Gagdi said records before the National Assembly showed that no law establishing the PFIPC exists, despite reports that the body operated from the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja between November 2024 and October 2025 and engaged several government institutions.
He noted that the Federal Government had publicly disowned the council and that allegations of forgery and impersonation involving the entity are already before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
According to him, the organisation allegedly relied on documents claiming it was established under an Act codified as Chapter N2117 of the Laws of the Federation, a legislation he said does not exist.
“The closest existing law is the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Act, which the purported council appears to have duplicated,” Gagdi stated.
The lawmaker described the alleged inclusion of over N1.3 billion for the entity in the 2026 budget framework as alarming, warning that it exposed major loopholes in Nigeria’s budget preparation and scrutiny process.
He cautioned that if such an entity could find its way into the budget, other fictitious agencies may have also been captured in previous or current appropriation frameworks.
To uncover how the alleged “ghost agency” entered the budget, the House constituted an ad-hoc committee with a four-week mandate to trace the allocation from the Executive’s proposal through the legislative process and determine at what stage it was introduced.
The committee is also expected to summon the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning and the Director-General of the Budget Office to explain the procedures for verifying and admitting new entities into the federal budget.
Lawmakers further directed the panel to verify all Ministries, Departments and Agencies listed in the 2025 and 2026 appropriation frameworks against their legal instruments of establishment and receive briefings from security and anti-corruption agencies without prejudicing the ongoing court proceedings.
The House also urged the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to ensure that no funds are released to the disputed entity pending the outcome of the investigation.
In addition, lawmakers resolved that the Budget Office must henceforth submit a comprehensive list of all agencies proposed for funding alongside every Appropriation Bill, clearly indicating the legal instrument establishing each entity.
Supporting the motion, Chairman of the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Rep. Ahmed Satomi, described the development as a serious threat to the integrity of Nigeria’s budgetary process.
“It is disturbing that an agency allegedly unknown to both the Presidency and the National Assembly could secure budgetary allocations. This matter must be thoroughly investigated,” he said.
Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, also backed the motion, revealing that his office had unknowingly hosted officials of the purported council after receiving what appeared to be an official letter bearing the Presidency’s insignia.
According to Kalu, the letter dated May 2, 2025, carried the logos of both the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council and listed an office address within the Federal Secretariat Complex alongside a government website.
He said his office conducted preliminary checks and confirmed that the organisation occupied the stated office before granting its officials an audience.
However, he disclosed that instead of discussing constitutional amendment and investment matters as stated in their correspondence, the officials appeared more interested in taking photographs.
“The experience shows that a letterhead bearing the Presidency or an office in the Federal Secretariat is no longer sufficient proof that an organisation is legally established,” Kalu said.
Following overwhelming support from lawmakers, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas put the motion to a voice vote, and it was unanimously adopted, setting the stage for a full-scale investigation into the alleged budget scandal.
