Despite swirling reports of government cash flowing to a controversial new council, the numbers tell a simpler story: the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council has received nothing, according to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, which says the body does not even have a functioning bank account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Director of Press and Public Relations Bawa Mokwa laid out exactly why the account never got off the ground: an application was started, but the paperwork, specifically the names of designated signatories, was never submitted, so the process stalled before completion. He said the council’s convener, Adeniyi Adeyemi, had approached the office with an appointment letter tied to a different, pre existing agency rather than the council itself, and that whatever momentum the account opening process had simply died there. No account can open at the apex bank without the Accountant General’s approval, Mokwa stressed, which means, in plain terms, the council has nowhere for money to even land. He said its funding is expected only under the 2026 budget, which hasn’t reached implementation yet.
The office also pushed back on a second set of claims, that the council had been paying salaries. Mokwa said no staff have been hired through the proper federal channels, walking through the actual process: before any agency can put new hires on the government payroll system, it needs sign off from the Federal Character Commission, the Budget Office and the Federal Civil Service Commission. None of that happened here, he said, meaning not a single name has been captured on payroll, since payment only follows once names are logged against an approved budget. Put together, the office argued, the absence of an operating bank account, a budget line and any recruitment approvals leaves the recent claims of funds and salaries without foundation.
