House committee summons Akume, Oyedele, Fagbemi, and several others to discuss PFIPC matters

The House of Representatives' ad hoc committee has extended an invitation to Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, to provide clarification on the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council's acquisition of office space within the federal secretariat.

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The committee, formally known as the Ad hoc Committee to Investigate the Circumstances Surrounding the Existence and Operations of PFIPC and its Inclusion in the Budget Framework, made this resolution during a public hearing in Abuja on Monday.

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In addition to Akume, the committee has also invited Minister of Finance, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, and Director-General of Budget Office, Mr Tanimu Yakubu, among other officials, to appear before it.

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These invited officials are expected to appear on July 21 to shed light on the circumstances surrounding the controversial council, according to the committee.

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The Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, headed by Adeyemi Adeniyi, has been operating from the federal secretariat, with accounts at the Central Bank of Nigeria and inclusion in the 2026 national budget, all reportedly without due process.

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The committee's resolution was prompted by submissions from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service and the Central Bank of Nigeria, as reported by the News Agency of Nigeria.

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Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, informed the panel that the office space occupied by PFIPC was actually allocated to her office, the OHCSF.

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Walson-Jack further revealed that PFIPC had approached her office seeking approval for its organisational structure, but this was not granted due to a lack of proper documentation, and that OHCSF neither deployed staff nor approved office space for the council.

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CBN Director of Banking, Mr Hamisu Abdullahi, acknowledged that PFIPC had two accounts with the apex bank, which were opened following clearance from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation on July 30, 2025.

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Abdullahi explained that it is standard practice for the Accountant-General's Office to clear any agency seeking to open an account, change signatories, or close an account before the bank proceeds, and that although the accounts were opened, no one came forward to be captured as signatories and the account was never operated.

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Chairman of the committee, Rep. Yusuf Gagdi, assured that the committee would thoroughly investigate the matter to get to the root of it.