Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, has faulted the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation saying they failed to detect and stop documents relating to the purported Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), which the Presidency has described as a non-existent agency.
Lawal said the SGF’s office should have identified the alleged fake agency long before its documents reached President Bola Tinubu, arguing that proper due diligence would have exposed the irregularity at an early stage.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television, Lawal reacted to the controversy surrounding the PFIPC following allegations linking its promoter, Adeniyi Adeyemi, to bribery involving senior government officials.
According to the former SGF, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation serves as the clearing-house for federal government agencies and is expected to verify the legal status of any institution seeking official recognition.
He argued that if the PFIPC was indeed not legally established, its documents should never have progressed through the government’s administrative process.
“If an agency is received, processed and forwarded without somebody in the SGF’s office asking exactly who these people are, then there is a dereliction of duty,” Lawal said.
He explained that the SGF’s office keeps records of all legally recognised ministries, departments and agencies and should ordinarily confirm the existence of any organisation claiming federal status before forwarding its requests to the President.
Lawal further outlined the procedure for establishing federal agencies, noting that proposals are initiated by the President or a supervising minister, considered by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and, where necessary, backed by legislation before such agencies become legally recognised.
He maintained that these procedures make it difficult for a non-existent agency to gain official recognition unless there were serious institutional failures.
The former SGF also questioned how the alleged agency reportedly secured a government budget code and passed through the federal budgeting process despite claims that it had no legal backing.
Describing the development as evidence of institutional compromise, Lawal suggested that more individuals might have been involved in facilitating the process.
According to him, every ministry, department and agency is required to defend its budget before the Budget Office of the Federation, making it unlikely that a non-existent organisation could obtain budgetary recognition without insider collaboration.
He also queried who approved the budget code for the alleged agency and how its proposal progressed through official channels before reaching the National Assembly.
(Ripples)