Forged State House Letter Used To Secure PFIPC Recognition, AGF Tells Reps

‘Forged State House Letter Used To Secure PFIPC Recognition’ – AGF Tells Reps
He told lawmakers no government funds were released to the purported council.
Ogunjimi said Treasury officials were unaware two staff joined the organisation.

The Accountant General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, has disclosed that a forged letter allegedly presented as originating from the State House was used to secure official government recognition for the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).

Ogunjimi made the disclosure while appearing before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the controversial budgetary allocation and operations of the purported council.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Accountant General told lawmakers that his office acted on what appeared to be an authentic correspondence from the State House requesting the creation of an administrative code for the council. However, subsequent investigations revealed that the letter did not originate from the Presidency.

Presenting his report to the committee, Ogunjimi said the first contact between his office and the purported council occurred in November 2024.

According to him, a letter dated November 7, 2024, and bearing a State House reference number, requested the creation of an administrative code for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council to facilitate budgeting, accounting and reporting.

He explained that, in line with established procedures, the Office of the Accountant General created the administrative code and communicated the approval to the State House, while also copying the Office of the Auditor General.

Ogunjimi said his office later received additional requests from the purported council, including applications for self accounting status, staff deployment, Treasury Single Account and domiciliary accounts, as well as funding approvals.

He, however, stressed that no government funds were released to the council despite the processing of some of its administrative requests.

“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.

He disclosed that the council had requested an establishment grant of ₦27.4 billion, but the request was never approved because there was no budgetary provision for it.

The AGF also explained that two domiciliary accounts were opened by the Central Bank of Nigeria for inflow purposes but never became operational because the council failed to meet the required regulatory conditions.

During the hearing, lawmakers questioned how the purported agency was able to navigate several government processes without raising suspicion among relevant officials.

Responding to the question, Ogunjimi revealed that the original letter requesting the administrative code was not issued by the State House.

“The letter that was received by the Treasury… was respectfully addressed as coming from the State House. That letter was never issued by the State House,’’ he said.

The revelation prompted committee members to describe the correspondence as a “hijacked” State House letter allegedly used to mislead government institutions into processing requests for a non existent agency.

Lawmakers also questioned how staff initially posted to the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President later became attached to the purported council without the knowledge of the Treasury.

Ogunjimi explained that two officers deployed to the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser in 2010 and 2013 remained there after the office was allegedly taken over by the new council.

According to him, the Office of the Accountant General was not formally informed that the officers had been absorbed by the purported council.

He said: “It was never assumed or written to us that those two officers were being taken over. The staff also never reported to the office to say another council had taken over the office and the name had changed.

“As far as I was concerned, we were dealing with a new agency, not the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser.”

'Forged State House Letter Used To Secure PFIPC Recognition' - AGF Tells Reps — ‘Forged State House Letter Used To Secure PFIPC Recognition’ – AGF Tells Reps

Ogunjimi further disclosed that when the purported council later requested the deployment of five additional staff, the Treasury approved only three because officials considered the organisation too small to justify the number requested.

“It was when all this matter came to light that I got to know that two of our staff were actually working or being absorbed by the agency.

“We never knew. We believed, based on the records available to us, that those officers were still with the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser,” he said.