The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has told the House of Representatives that two foreign currency accounts opened for the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) have remained dormant since they were created in 2025, with no deposits, withdrawals, remittances or any other financial transactions recorded.
The disclosure was made on Monday before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating allegations that the PFIPC was established and operated without a valid legal framework.
Representing CBN Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, the bank’s Director, Hamisu Abdullahi, informed lawmakers that the apex bank opened the accounts solely on the directive of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), stressing that the CBN does not independently create or manage accounts for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
According to Abdullahi, the OAGF, through a mandate dated July 29, 2025, instructed the CBN to open two domiciliary accounts—one denominated in United States dollars and the other in Pound Sterling—for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council. The accounts were opened on July 30, 2025.
He, however, disclosed that the council never submitted the authorised signatories required to activate the accounts, leaving both accounts inactive from inception.
“The two accounts have remained inactive with zero balance since they were opened. There have been no foreign exchange allocations, no remittances, no inflows, no outflows, no deposits and no withdrawals,” Abdullahi told the committee.
He added that the CBN never received any direct communication from the council concerning the operation or management of the accounts, noting that every instruction relating to them came through the Office of the Accountant-General.
The probe took a fresh turn when the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, distanced her office from the creation of the PFIPC, insisting that establishing government agencies is outside the constitutional mandate of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service.
She explained that while her office is responsible for approving the administrative structure of federal agencies, it has no authority to establish ministries, departments, agencies or presidential councils.
Walson-Jack revealed that the council applied on August 6, 2025, for approval of its organisational structure, but the application was rejected because it failed to provide the required legal documentation.
She further disclosed that during the 2025 annual manpower budget defence exercise, officials of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council requested an authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver, informing her office that the council already had 14 personnel, including a Director-General and Chief Executive Officer.
According to her, the request was processed alongside submissions from 87 other federal agencies and later approved under the fourth batch of manpower authorisations, covering the regularisation of the existing 14 personnel and an additional 300 positions.
However, she said subsequent scrutiny raised serious concerns over the authenticity of the document presented by the council as its enabling law.
“It was observed that the document presented by the council as its enabling law did not carry the requisite features of a valid legal instrument,” Walson-Jack told the lawmakers.
She also dismissed reports that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service deployed personnel to the council or allocated office accommodation to it at the Federal Secretariat Phase III, insisting that no such approvals or deployments were made.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Chairman of the House Ad-hoc Committee, Hon. Abdulmalik Danga, directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to submit comprehensive records of all accounts linked to both the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
The committee also ordered the apex bank to obtain and submit details of any related accounts maintained by the councils in commercial banks as lawmakers intensify investigations into the legality of the PFIPC’s establishment, funding and operations.
The latest disclosures have deepened the controversy surrounding the PFIPC, raising fresh questions over how a council whose legal status is now under scrutiny was able to obtain official manpower approvals and secure the opening of government-backed foreign currency accounts despite concerns over its legal foundation.