Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has raised fresh concerns over the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), questioning how the allegedly non-existent agency secured a Budget code, official recognition and a reported ₦27.5 billion take-off grant.
Speaking during a television interview yesterday, Lawal said the Office of the SGF bears primary responsibility for identifying and stopping any agency that lacks legal backing, insisting that such an entity should never have progressed through government processes. He argued that any agency reporting through the Presidency must pass through the SGF’s office, where due diligence should confirm its legal status before budgets, correspondence or requests are forwarded.
Lawal also reacted to reports that the SGF’s office approved PFIPC’s self-styled Director-General, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, to attend the Canada-Africa Fintech Summit in 2025, saying such approval should never have been granted if the agency was not legally established. According to him, if the SGF had been sidelined in government processes, the matter reflected an “institutional compromise,” adding that he would have protested directly to the President if placed in such a position.
The former SGF further questioned how the agency allegedly obtained a Government Budget code and passed through the budget defence process without being flagged by the Budget Office, the Ministry of Budget and Planning or other oversight institutions. Lawal also called for an investigation into Adeyemi’s claim that PFIPC received a ₦27.5 billion take-off grant before the disputed ₦1.3 billion budget allocation, asking who approved and released the funds if they were not appropriated by the National Assembly.
He described the controversy as only “the tip of the iceberg,” warning that the alleged disbursement of public funds to a fictitious agency points to deeper institutional failures requiring a comprehensive investigation.
The controversy deepened on Monday, following reports that the Nigeria Police Force detained the father of PFIPC’s self-styled Director-General as investigations into the agency continue.
