President Bola Tinubu has directed a comprehensive forensic investigation into the alleged creation and operation of fictitious government agencies, following findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
The directive was disclosed on Wednesday by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Oyedele said the investigation would focus on the processes, procedures and internal control weaknesses that allowed a purported agency known as the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council to operate within the Federal Government system.
According to him, the investigation became necessary after the ICPC uncovered evidence suggesting that other fake agencies may also have been created.
“The council has directed that we commission a forensic investigation that will look into our processes, our procedures and internal control weaknesses that allow some of these things to happen,” Oyedele said.
He added that the investigation would determine what went wrong, identify those responsible and recommend measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The minister said the Attorney-General of the Federation and his ministry had been directed to work with relevant government agencies to address the matter from administrative, accounting and governance perspectives.
He also disclosed that the review would extend to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, amid concerns that the existence of fictitious government agencies could have facilitated the creation of fake employees on the Federal Government payroll.
“Mr President directed that the review should extend to IPPIS, because if you have fake agencies, you most likely have fake employees,” Oyedele said.
He stressed that the government could not afford to have fictitious personnel on its payroll, particularly at a time when the administration was making efforts to improve salaries and working conditions for genuine civil servants.
Oyedele disclosed that about N9.495 trillion in subsidy savings and incremental revenue had been channelled into the payment of salaries and allowances to civil servants, describing the figure as higher than the actual savings that accrued to the Federal Government from subsidy removal.
He said the government was determined to ensure that fake agencies and personnel did not undermine its payroll reforms.
According to him, the purported agency had gone beyond simply existing on paper, as those behind it allegedly succeeded in securing an administrative code and a Treasury Single Account code.
He, however, noted that no funds were paid into the accounts associated with the fake agency.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, also confirmed that the ICPC’s investigation had uncovered more than the initially identified fake council.
Idris said the commission discovered at least two additional fictitious agencies during its investigation.
He explained that the President’s directive was not limited to financial irregularities but also addressed weaknesses in the administrative processes that allowed the fake agencies to gain recognition within government structures.
According to Idris, Tinubu directed the Attorney-General and the Finance Minister to jointly examine the administrative and accounting systems involved and engage professional audit firms to conduct a comprehensive forensic review.
He said the objective was to identify the loopholes and permanently strengthen government systems against similar abuses.
Idris further cautioned that the development might have originated before the current administration, stressing that the investigation would not be restricted to events under Tinubu’s government.
He said the President was also concerned about the possibility that similar fictitious entities could exist elsewhere within the government system.
The controversy came to light after Adeniyi Adeyemi allegedly presented himself as the Director-General of the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, which operated from an office within the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
The latest directive is expected to widen investigations into how the organisation gained access to government facilities and secured administrative and financial codes, as well as determine whether similar loopholes have been exploited elsewhere in the Federal Government.
