PFIPC PROBE DEEPENS AS STATE HOUSE DENIES ROLE, FRSC ADMITS BEING MISLED

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) has uncovered fresh discrepancies surrounding the agency’s operations, with the State House denying any role in its establishment and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) admitting it was misled into recognising the council.

The latest developments emerged on Thursday during the committee’s investigative hearing at the National Assembly in Abuja, where officials from the State House and the FRSC appeared before lawmakers.

The committee is probing how the PFIPC allegedly operated as a Federal Government agency, obtained official recognition and was integrated into aspects of the 2026 Appropriation Act despite concerns over its legal status.

Representing the Permanent Secretary of the State House, the Director of Administration, Abdulkadri Idris, told lawmakers that the Presidency neither approved the creation of the PFIPC nor requested the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to issue a budget code for the council.

He said the State House had no knowledge of the council until reports about it surfaced in the media and maintained that the Presidency did not send any correspondence relating to its establishment.

Idris also dismissed documents presented before the committee as fraudulent, explaining that they contained the name of a supposed State House official who had never served in the Presidency and referenced a department that does not exist.

According to him, there has never been a Directorate of Administration and Support Services in the State House, contrary to what appeared on the disputed documents.

To support its position, the State House submitted official records, including authentic letterheads and a historical list of Directors of Administration, which had earlier been forwarded to the Nigeria Police National Cybercrime Centre.

Reacting to the testimony, Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, said the evidence exposed significant inconsistencies between records obtained from the Office of the Accountant-General and those presented by the State House.

He noted that the alleged request for a budget code came from an office the State House said does not exist, while the name of the purported signatory could not be found in any official records.

The State House also denied issuing an appointment letter to the alleged Director-General of the council, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, explaining that appointments of chief executives of federal agencies are conveyed through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation after presidential approval.

Also appearing before the committee, the FRSC defended its decision to allocate seven official Federal Government vehicle number plates to the PFIPC, saying it followed its standard verification procedures before granting the request.

In a memorandum signed by Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed, the FRSC said the application was submitted in April 2025 by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi alongside documents claiming to establish the council and outlining its responsibilities.

The Corps said it reviewed the documents, verified the vehicles’ chassis numbers, visited the council’s office at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja and checked the government-domain website provided by the applicant before approving the allocation of seven official government number plates.

However, the FRSC said it later discovered that the PFIPC was not an approved Federal Government agency and that the representations made during the application process were false.

The Corps Marshal disclosed that the FRSC has commenced steps to recover all seven official number plates issued to the council and has strengthened its internal verification process to prevent similar incidents.

During the hearing, Gagdi questioned the thoroughness of the verification process after observing that the documents relied upon by the FRSC lacked standard government security features and unusually listed the President, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and several ministers as members of the council.

While admitting that the documents appeared abnormal, the Corps Marshal maintained that the FRSC acted on the information available at the time.

The committee directed the FRSC to provide the current status and location of all vehicles registered under the PFIPC and announced that the investigation would conclude next Wednesday with the appearance of all relevant agencies.

Lawmakers said the probe is aimed at establishing how the council emerged, identifying those responsible for its activities and recommending measures to prevent similar breaches in government administrative processes.