PFIPC scandal: ‘Big racket’ behind fake agency’s budget code — Babachir Lawal

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has called for a judicial inquiry into the controversy surrounding the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), saying the case exposes deep institutional failures beyond a mere administrative lapse.

Speaking on ARISE NEWS on Monday, Lawal said the way the purported agency operated within government systems suggests a wider network that enabled it to function despite doubts about its legal standing.

“I don’t think it should even be administrative alone; it should be a judicial inquiry,” Lawal said.

He questioned how the alleged ₦27.5 billion “take-off grant” linked to the agency could have been approved and disbursed without legal backing.

“Nigerians are talking about how ₦1.3 billion was inserted into the budget. The man himself first said the quarrel came about because he refused to part with 48% of the ₦27-point-something billion take-off grant. That money had been spent before the Budget Office was looking for the budget,” he stated.

“Who gave him the money? It was not appropriated. It’s not in any budget, that ₦27.5 billion for which he says somebody demanded 48%. Who gave him the money? How did the process of generating the request for the release begin? How did it go through?

“We are just talking about the tip of the iceberg here. Before we got to this point, ₦27.5 billion had already been disbursed, according to him, as a take-off grant. How did that money get to him? It was not in the budget. So, this is what should frighten us. If such money can go to a fictitious organisation, we only begin to hear about it when people are quarrelling over how it got into the budget. How did that money get to them?”

Lawal said the scandal only came to light because of a dispute over the sharing of the funds, not because oversight mechanisms worked.

“So, you see, that’s how we got to know about this in the first place. That is the reason why we got to hear about it from his side of the story. It’s about the sharing of the ₦27.5 billion. That’s why the matter came up. So, the system didn’t work. It should have worked before that money left the government coffers and entered the agency’s account.”

The former SGF alleged “institutional compromise” and said the episode points to a “big racket” within government.

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“If the agency was created by maybe one big man alone, and then he wants to go through the budget process, the Budget Office assigns a budget code according to the chart of accounts in GIFMIS. So, how did they manage to assign a budget code to an agency that does not exist? Who inserted it?”

He explained that the normal process requires the Budget Office to issue a call circular, after which Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) prepare their budgets within approved ceilings before defending them before the Ministry of Budget and Planning.

“Now, if you don’t exist, how did they recognise you as a genuine entity? Who issued the budget code and allowed the budget to pass? That’s what oversight is about. The SGF should know because, before it gets to the National Assembly, the budget goes through the SGF. Unless there was a dereliction of duty by the SGF’s office, the responsibility for flagging that this is a fake agency would have rested with them.”

Lawal also faulted lawmakers for failing to properly scrutinise budget details.

“It is a legislative oversight. This government—this National Assembly—has no interest in scrutinising the budget that comes before it. Most of the legislators just go there to earn their salaries, collect allowances and leave. They don’t scrutinise the budget line by line. We all know how this particular government works. There are some people who, when they speak, nobody else has the authority to contradict them.”

He said attention should shift to those who allegedly enabled the agency’s operations.

“Why are you interested in ₦27.5 billion that had already been collected and spent? We are talking about an agency that we are claiming doesn’t exist. Maybe it exists, but it doesn’t have a legal framework for its existence. But it exists. And there are a lot of powerful people making sure it exists in that form.

“Those are the people we need to expose. The Chief of Staff, in particular, is so powerful. The SGF is there, just reneging on his responsibilities. And nothing has happened now,” he added.