BudgIT has called for an immediate investigation into the allocation of ₦1.302 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act to the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), saying the development exposes serious gaps in Nigeria’s budgeting and oversight system.
The civic technology organisation made the call in a statement issued on Friday by its Country Director, Vahyala Kwaga, following the Presidency’s declaration that the agency does not exist.
The controversy erupted after the self-acclaimed Director-General of the PFIPC, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, allegedly claimed he paid ₦400 million to the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, to secure his appointment.
Reacting to the allegation, the Presidency, through the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described Adeyemi as a “criminal impostor” and insisted that the PFIPC is not an agency under the Presidency.
BudgIT, however, said the Presidency’s position raises more questions than answers.
According to the organisation, if the agency does not exist, Nigerians deserve to know how it allegedly secured office accommodation within the Federal Secretariat, operated multiple Central Bank of Nigeria accounts, received over ₦1.3 billion in the 2026 budget, and engaged government institutions, development partners and diplomatic missions before its legitimacy was challenged.
BudgIT said its review of previous Appropriation Acts showed that the PFIPC did not appear in the 2023, 2024 or 2025 federal budgets, making its inclusion in the 2026 Appropriation Act particularly troubling.
The organisation said the incident reflects longstanding concerns about Nigeria’s budgeting process, recalling that its report on the 2025 Appropriation Act identified 11,122 projects worth ₦6.93 trillion allegedly inserted into the budget without adequate justification.
It argued that the latest controversy points to a breakdown in institutional safeguards, noting that the federal budget passes through multiple layers of review involving Ministries, Departments and Agencies, the Budget Office of the Federation, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Presidency and the National Assembly.
“The successful appropriation of over ₦1.3 billion to an entity now publicly disowned by the Presidency raises troubling questions about how these safeguards failed simultaneously,” BudgIT said.
The organisation called on the Presidency, the Budget Office of the Federation, the National Assembly, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies to launch an independent investigation into the matter.
It said the probe should determine how the agency was introduced into the federal budget, identify officials involved in the appropriation process, establish whether any public funds were released, and ensure that anyone found culpable is brought to justice.
BudgIT maintained that restoring public confidence in the country’s budgeting process would require greater transparency, stronger oversight mechanisms and decisive institutional reforms to safeguard public resources.
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