The Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, says a fake State House letter helped the controversial Presidential Economic Advisory Council, PFIPC, gain recognition
Ogunjimi made this known on Monday while fielding questions from the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee probing the circumstances surrounding the establishment and operations of the council.
The lawmakers uncovered how a letter purportedly originating from the State House was allegedly used to secure official government recognition for the contentious PFIPC
Ogunjimi told the committee that the Office of the Accountant-General acted on what appeared to be a genuine State House correspondence requesting the creation of an administrative code for the council, only for investigations to later reveal that the letter did not originate from the Presidency.
The Accountant-General said the first interaction between his office and the purported council occurred in November 2024.
He said a letter dated November 7, 2024, bearing a State House reference number, requested the creation of an administrative code for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council for budgeting, accounting and reporting purposes.
According to him, following established procedures, the Office of the Accountant-General created the administrative code and communicated the approval back to the State House while copying the Office of the Auditor-General.
The AGF explained that his office subsequently received additional requests from the purported council, including applications for self-accounting status, staff deployment, Treasury Single Account, TSA, and domiciliary accounts, and funding approvals.
However, he stressed that despite the processing of some administrative requests, no government funds were ever released to the council.
“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,” Ogunjimi told lawmakers.