The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has denied claims that public funds were released to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), saying the body has no operational CBN account, no budgetary allocation and no staff on government payroll.
Director of Press and Public Relations, OAGF, Mr. Bawa Mokwa, gave the clarification on Thursday amid reports alleging that the controversial council had received government money and paid salaries.
Mokwa said the PFIPC had neither received budgetary allocation nor any financial disbursement from the federal government.
He explained that while an application was initiated to open a CBN account for the council, the process was abandoned after the required documentation was not submitted.
“The account, till today, has not seen the light of day. It has not seen one kobo because the account is not completely operational,” Mokwa said.
“That portrays that he has not collected a dime. The Accountant-General has not released a dime because they don’t even have a place where the money can be paid.”
According to him, no account can be opened with the apex bank without the approval of the Accountant-General.
The OAGF spokesman said the convener of the council, Adeniyi Adeyemi, approached the office with an appointment letter linked to an already existing agency rather than the PFIPC.
He added that the account-opening process stalled because the names of officials designated as account signatories were never provided, leaving the government with no channel to transfer funds to the council.
Mokwa further stated that the PFIPC was not captured in any federal budget for funding. He said financing for the council is only expected under the 2026 budget and has not reached the implementation stage.
The OAGF also dismissed reports that salaries had been paid to workers of the council, insisting that no staff had been recruited through statutory procedures.
“Based on our knowledge, he has not employed anybody,” he said.
Mokwa explained that before any federal agency can recruit and place personnel on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, it must secure approvals from the Federal Character Commission, the Budget Office and the Federal Civil Service Commission.
“Once they are captured, payment will come from the budget,” he said. “He cannot capture even one name without those approvals… none of the required processes had been completed by the council.”
The OAGF maintained that in the absence of an operational CBN account, budgetary allocation and statutory recruitment approvals, claims that the PFIPC had received public funds or paid salaries were unfounded.
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