Esther Walson-Jack, head of the civil service of the federation (HoS), says the office space used by the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) at the federal secretariat in Abuja was allocated to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).
Walson-Jack spoke on Monday when she appeared before the
House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the PFIPC controversy
and the N1.3 billion allocated to the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu,
is at the centre of the PFIPC controversy.
Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man accused of operating the agency,
claimed the chief of staff issued his appointment letter — an allegation
Gbajabiamila has denied.
The presidency said the appointment letter bearing
Gbajabiamila’s signature was forged, while the chief of staff had earlier
petitioned security agencies over the matter.
Adeyemi was arrested on July 14 by the operatives of the
police intelligence response team (IRT) in Osun state.
Walson-Jack told lawmakers that although the council
operated from an office in the federal secretariat phase III, the space was
officially allocated to the OSGF.
“We can state categorically that the office of the head of
the civil service of the federation did not allocate any office space to the
PFIPC,” she said.
Walson-Jack said the PFIPC approached the office of the head
of service on August 6, 2025, seeking approval of its organisational structure,
but the request was initially declined because the council did not submit the
required documents.
She explained that newly established organisations are
expected to provide either an establishment Act, an enabling legal instrument
or other valid documents establishing their existence before such requests are
processed.
Walson-Jack told lawmakers that during the 2025 annual
workforce projection and human resources exercise, officials of the PFIPC said
the council was participating for the first time and was operating with
personnel seconded from other government agencies.
She said the council also sought an authorised establishment
and a recruitment waiver to employ substantive staff, informing the office of
the HoS that 14 officials, including its director-general, were already in
place.
The HoS said the council submitted copies of its
director-general’s appointment letter and documents showing that it already had
a budget code.
She said the request was included alongside those of other
ministries, departments and agencies in the fourth batch of submissions
approved on July 18, 2025, by the permanent secretary overseeing the office
during her absence.
‘WE NEVER DEPLOYED STAFF TO PFIPC’
Walson-Jack also dismissed claims that the office of the
head of service posted civil servants to the council.
She said her office received a request seeking deployment of
officers to support the PFIPC but said the request was never approved.
Walson-Jack noted that recruitment and placement of staff
are the responsibility of individual government agencies and do not fall within
the mandate of her office.
‘WE DIDN’T DO OUR BEST TO VERIFY PFIPC
During the hearing, Hassan Fulata, a member of the
committee, questioned why the HoS accepted the PFIPC’s documents without
confirming the authenticity of its purported enabling Act.
Fulata said government agencies cannot participate in the
budget process without valid legal backing, noting that officials ought to have
verified the documents in line with the Acts Authentication Act before
assigning a budget code.
Responding, Walson-Jack admitted shortcomings in the
verification process, saying officers who initially assessed the documents were
not lawyers and therefore failed to detect that the purported enabling Act was
fake.
Walson-Jack said she only discovered the irregularity after
the controversy surrounding the council’s budgetary allocation prompted her to
review the documents personally.
She said the discovery exposed weaknesses in the HoS office,
adding that a review of its standard operating procedures is underway to
strengthen the legal scrutiny of documents submitted by government agencies.
“We need to have another level of verification. We need to
have a lawyer on the team that will receive legal documents so that the lawyer
can assess every legal document,” she said.
She added that multiple verification layers would now be
introduced before legal documents are accepted.
“So we concede that we didn’t do the best we ought to have
done in cross-checking those documents at the time they were presented,” she
said.
Walson-Jack added that issues relating to the establishment,
supervision and operations of the PFIPC fall outside the statutory mandate of
the HoS and rest with the OSGF and other relevant government institutions.
On his part, Abdullahi Hamisu, director of banking services
at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said two foreign currency accounts were
opened for the PFIPC on the directive of the office of the accountant-general
of the federation (OAGF).
He said the CBN followed its standard account-opening
procedures and did not require an enabling Act before processing the request.
Hamisu added that the accounts were never funded or
operated.
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