Isaac Samuel
The Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, on Monday told the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee investigating the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council that a forged letter purportedly issued by the State House misled government authorities into granting administrative recognition to the controversial body.
Appearing before the committee, Ogunjimi explained that his office approved an administrative code for the council after receiving what appeared to be an authentic communication from the Presidency.
He, however, disclosed that subsequent investigations revealed the State House never issued the letter.
He said the Office of the Accountant-General first received correspondence relating to the council in November 2024.
According to him, the letter, dated November 7, 2024, requested the creation of an administrative code to facilitate budgeting, accounting and financial reporting.
Following standard procedure, he said the request was approved and the code created, with the decision communicated to the State House and copied to the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
Ogunjimi told lawmakers that after the approval, his office received further requests from the council, including applications for self-accounting status, deployment of personnel, the opening of Treasury Single Account and domiciliary accounts, as well as funding approvals.
He, however, stressed that despite processing some administrative requests, no public funds were released to the organisation.
“It is important to note that no funds were released under salaries, overhead, capital, or any form of intervention or special allocation to the council,” he said.
The AGF further disclosed that the council applied for a N27.4 billion establishment grant, but the request was rejected because there was no budgetary provision for it.
He also revealed that although the Central Bank of Nigeria opened two domiciliary accounts for the organisation, they never became operational because the required regulatory conditions were not met.
Responding to questions from lawmakers on how the agency secured official recognition, Ogunjimi said the Treasury acted on what it believed was genuine presidential correspondence.
“The letter that was received by the Treasury was respectfully addressed as coming from the State House. That letter was never issued by the State House,” he said.
The committee also examined how civil servants originally posted to the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President became attached to the purported council.
Ogunjimi explained that two officers deployed to the Chief Economic Adviser’s office in 2010 and 2013 remained there after the alleged council assumed operations.
He said the Accountant-General’s office was never formally notified that the officers had been transferred to another organisation.
“It was never communicated to us that those two officers had been taken over. The officers also never reported that another council had assumed control of the office. Based on our records, we believed they were still serving in the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser,” he said.
He added that the council later requested the deployment of five additional personnel, but only three were approved after the Treasury concluded it did not require the number sought.
The House committee is investigating allegations that forged presidential approvals, fake State House correspondence and other falsified government documents were used to establish and operate the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
The panel had earlier directed the Inspector-General of Police to produce the alleged Director-General of the council, Adeyemi Adeniyi, before lawmakers on Wednesday over allegations bordering on forgery and fraud.
