Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has faulted the Budget Office of the Federation over its role in the inclusion of a purported fake government agency in the 2026 federal budget.
The commission said its investigation into the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) uncovered serious administrative lapses in the processing of the agency’s budget proposal.
According to the ICPC, the Budget Office continued to process the proposal despite the purported agency failing to provide key documents, including estimates for overhead and capital expenditure. Officials were instead said to have relied on informal engagements and unverified scanned approvals.
The PFIPC was allocated about N1.3 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act, despite the Presidency subsequently maintaining that the organisation was not a recognised government agency.
The ICPC said the Budget Office arrived at the proposed figures by considering the purported organisation’s proposed personnel structure, functions, size, age and allocations of comparable government agencies.
However, investigators found no evidence that the allocation was eventually released, cash-backed, paid or spent.
The development has raised fresh questions over the checks and verification mechanisms within Nigeria’s budgetary process, particularly how an entity later described by the Presidency as fictitious could secure a budgetary provision.
The ICPC said its investigation also identified lapses involving other public institutions, including the National Information Technology Development Agency and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which it said failed to undertake adequate due diligence and follow established procedures.
In its interim report submitted to President Bola Tinubu, the commission recommended administrative sanctions against public officials whose actions, omissions or negligence may have facilitated the operation of the purported agency.
It also recommended that Adeniyi Adeyemi, who allegedly presented himself as the director-general of the PFIPC, should face prosecution, while calling for institutional reforms to strengthen verification, internal controls and oversight across government ministries, departments and agencies.
The controversy has already triggered investigations by the National Assembly, while President Tinubu directed the ICPC to investigate how the purported agency gained access to government structures and secured a place in the national budget.
The ICPC stressed that its investigation remains ongoing, with efforts continuing to identify other individuals who may have participated in or facilitated the alleged scheme.
The case has renewed scrutiny of Nigeria’s public financial management system and raised concerns about the safeguards in place to prevent fictitious entities from gaining access to government resources and institutions.
