The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has said the late President Muhammadu Buhari did not create the fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC)/Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC).
In a statement on Sunday, the organisation described claims as false.
The Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) had, on Friday, explained that PFIPC, which the presidency declared as fake and is currently being investigated by ICPC, had its origin in the Buhari administration.
The BOF Director-General, Mr Tanimu Yakubu, who provided the explanation in a statement after appearing before members of the House of Representatives, said PFIPC’s institutional origin was premised on the Presidential Economic Advisory Council inaugurated by the late president on Oct. 9, 2019.
He also explained how the fake agency was allocated money in the 2026 budget.
“PEAC/PFIPC did not enter the 2026 budget merely because it asked for funds. The council had its origin in the Presidential Economic Advisory Council inaugurated during the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari on Oct. 9, 2019,” he stated.
The media office of the late president, however, said what Buhari created was the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC).
It said that at inception, PEAC operated from the second floor of the Ministry of Health, Federal Secretariat, the offices designated for the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, a position it said Buhari did not appoint until much later.
BMO explained that under the last administration, PEAC had no budget line, adding that its activities were funded through presidential approvals to the minister of finance.
“PEAC was an ad-hoc (part-time) body, purely advisory, made up of professional economists and financial experts to offer expert economic advice to the president under the chairmanship of Prof. Doyin Salami, CFR, before he was eventually made the Chief Economic Adviser.
“Others in the PEAC were Prof. Mahmuda Sagagi, Vice-Chairman, and the members were Prof. Ode Ojowu, Dr Shehu Yahaya, Dr Iyabo Masha, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Mr Bismark Rewane and Dr Mohammed Salisu, Senior Special Assistant to the president on Development Policy, as secretary.
“They were not paid salaries but office expenses were paid by the Permanent Secretary, State House, upon approval by the president.
“When the current administration assumed office in 2023, it neither dissolved the Buhari-appointed PEAC nor re-appointed its members.
“The members, being political appointees, considered that their term had ended following the departure from office of the administration that appointed them.
“The office at the secretariat branded both as “Presidential Economic Advisory Council” and “Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President,” remained vacant. It was only put to use two to three years later by others,” the organisation stated.
It added that news reports stating that the ongoing “comedy-drama” on the alleged fictitious government agency was rooted in the Buhari administration were false, groundless and lacked any factual basis.
(The Whistler)
