By Gift Chapi Odekina, Abuja Fresh revelations emerged on Monday at the House of Representatives investigative hearing into the alleged operation of a fake presidential agency, as lawmakers uncovered how a letter purportedly originating from the State House was allegedly used to secure official government recognition for the controversial Presidential Economic Advisory Council. The accountant-general of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, told the House committee that the Office of the Accountant-General acted on what appeared to be a genuine State House correspondence requesting the creation of an administrative code for the council, only for investigations to later reveal that the letter did not originate from the Presidency. Presenting his report before the committee, Ogunjimi said the first interaction between his office and the purported council occurred in November 2024.
According to him, a letter dated November 7, 2024, bearing a State House reference number, requested the creation of an administrative code for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council for budgeting, accounting and reporting purposes. He explained that, following established procedures, the Office of the Accountant-General created the administrative code and communicated the approval back to the State House while copying the Office of the Auditor-General. He said the office subsequently received additional requests from the purported council, including applications for self-accounting status, staff deployment, Treasury Single Account (TSA) and domiciliary accounts, and funding approvals.
However, he stressed that despite the processing of some administrative requests, no government funds were ever released to the council. “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. The accountant-general disclosed that although the council requested an establishment grant of N27.4 billion, the request was never approved because there was no budgetary provision to accommodate it.
He also explained that while two domiciliary accounts were opened by the Central Bank of Nigeria for inflow purposes, they never became operational because the council failed to meet regulatory requirements. During the hearing, lawmakers questioned how the purported agency successfully nav…
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