The House of Representatives has constituted an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate how the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, PFIPC, secured appropriation in the 2026 budget despite government position that it is not a legal entity.
The 4-member panel, chaired by the Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, is expected to trace how the agency entered the budget and report back to the House within four weeks for further legislative action.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion by Gagdi on the “urgent need to safeguard the integrity of the national budget” after reports that PFIPC was included in the 2026 Appropriation framework.
Committee Mandate
The Ad-hoc Committee was mandated to:
1. Invite the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning and the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation to clarify verification procedures for admitting new agencies into the budget.
2. Verify all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, and other bodies reflected in the 2025 and 2026 budget frameworks against their instruments of establishment.
3. Receive briefings from relevant security and anti-corruption agencies “without prejudice to proceedings pending before the Federal High Court.”
The House also directed the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to confirm that no releases have been made and that no warrants will be honored in respect of any provision attributable to PFIPC pending the conclusion of investigations.
Furthermore, the Budget Office was directed to henceforth submit to the National Assembly a comprehensive list of all MDAs and other bodies proposed for funding, alongside their instruments of establishment, ahead of the presentation of each Appropriation Bill.
The legality of PFIPC has been a subject of controversy following a public clash between its Director General, Mathew Adeyemi, and the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Indications later emerged that the “agency” was allocated over N1.3 trillion in the 2026 budget.
Moving the motion, Gagdi informed the House that between November 2024 and October 2025, PFIPC, which lacks legal backing, operated from the Federal Secretariat in Abuja and interacted with various organs of government.
“The ease with which a single unestablished entity progressed through official processes suggests a systemic vulnerability rather than an isolated lapse,” he said.
He added that reports indicate a budgetary provision in excess of N1.3 billion attributable to the entity found its way into the 2026 Appropriation framework, raising fundamental questions on how a body without any authentic instrument of establishment could enter the federal budget undetected.
Contributing to the debate, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu said he unknowingly engaged with PFIPC officials after receiving an official letter from the group bearing the Presidency, requesting an audience over the review of the 1999 Constitution.
According to him, “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.”
Reps Probe N1.3trn Budget Provision For Non-existent PFIPC
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