ICPC Commences Investigation on ‘Fake’ Agency, House Committee Summons SGF

•Head of Service admits not doing due diligence, says office occupied by PFIPC was allocated to SGF

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Dr. Musa Aliyu, has said that investigation surrounding the existence and operations of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) ilhas commenced.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu had last week given 30-day ultimatum to the anti-graft agency to investigate the Director General of the agency, Adeniyi Adeyemi.

Speaking on Monday in Abuja during a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee, the ICPC boss said investigation had commenced following the directive of the President.

He stated: “Following the President’s directive, we have commenced investigation, we appeal to this committee to give us three days to come back and update the committee on the investigation.”

However, the ad hoc committee has summoned the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, for allocating office to the ‘fake’ agency.

The committee also summoned the Salaries and Wages Commission, the Federal Character Commission, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagufu, Minister of Finance , Taiwo Oyedele, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Ojukwu, the Accountant General of the federation, Dr. Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, to appear before the committee by 10:00a.m. Tuesday.

The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, while speaking at the public hearing on Monday in Abuja stated categorically that the establishment of agencies was not under the purview of the Head of Service.

However, the office of Head of Service was responsible for approving the administrative structure of federal government agencies.

Walson-Jack added that no office was allocated to the council, adding that the office the council is using was part of the offices allocated to the SGF, who can reallocate as it deems fit.

She explained that the request from the council for approval of its organisational structure was submitted on August 6, 2025, which was denied because it lacked prerequisite documents.

Walson-Jack noted that the issuance of an authorised establishment is undertaken through an established administrative process coordinated by the Organisation, Design and Development Department.

She added that the HoS follows an established administrative practice of collating requests from participating organizations and processing them in batches for approval.

The Head of service admitted not doing due diligence to cross check the document submitted by the council at that time was not genuine.

She stated: “When all these problems came up, and I said, bring the documents, and immediately I saw it, because I am a lawyer with over 30 years’ experience, I said there was something wrong with this.

“At that point when I discovered it, I said we need to have another level of verification, and we need to have a lawyer on the team that will receive legal documents, so that the lawyer can access every legal document. And I would like to share with you that we’ve already begun the process of reviewing our standard operating procedures to ensure that we have a lawyer working in that department, and that we have different layers of verification of documents.

“So we concede that it was, we didn’t do the best we ought to have done in cross-checking that document at the time it was presented.”

Walson-Jack said the office of Head of service issues authorized establishments to organizations, providing the approved staff and authorized positions.

She noted that for newly established organisations, requests for authorized establishment and a provisional recruitment waiver are processed concurrently.

According to her, the provisional recruitment waiver allows organizations to recruit personnel into approved positions.

The Head of Service revealed that during the 2025 annual manpower project defense exercise, representatives of the the council, Patricia Akhigbe, who represented Adeyemi appeared before the OHCSF to discuss their organizational structure and staffing requirements.

She said Akhigbe explained that they were participating in the manpower defence process for the first time and required authorized personnel to facilitate operations.

Walson-Jack said the Council submitted documents such as the letter of appointment of the Director General and the organization’s mandate during the bilateral engagement.

She emphasised that the request was reviewed by the office of the Head of service and incorporated into the fourth batch of submissions for the year, which was approved on July 18, 2023.

The Head of service said her office approved the Council’s request, authorizing an establishment with a workforce.

Speaking, Director of Banking Services, Central Bank of Nigeria, Hamisu Ibrahim said the office of the Accountant General of the Federation on 30th July, 2025 directed the apex bank to open an account for the council.

He said one was a Dollar account, while the other was a Pound account, but added that there was no transaction on that account till date.

In his ruling, the chairman of the committee, said: “the office to the SGF should appear before us with additional information and explained why the office was allocated to the office under investigation

“Salary and wages commission, federal character commission, and budget office of the federation should appear before the committee tomorrow (Tuesday) by 10a.m.”

Gagdi also told the CBN to furnish the committee with details of all financial transactions of the council from the day of the opening of the account till date.