The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, has admitted that her office failed to carry out adequate due diligence before approving key requests linked to the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), as the House of Representatives uncovered widespread irregularities surrounding the purported agency.
The admission came during the ongoing investigation by the House Ad-Hoc Committee probing the creation of the PFIPC and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), both of which lawmakers say lacked legal backing.
According to The PUNCH, the committee has uncovered what it described as a web of fake appointment letters, fabricated legislative documents and fictitious government offices allegedly used by Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi, who presented himself as the Director-General of the non-existent agency, to obtain official recognition from federal institutions.
Appearing before the committee, Walson-Jack acknowledged that her office relied on documents later discovered to be false before issuing an authorised establishment and recruitment waiver.
“We concede that we ought to have carried out more due diligence,” she told lawmakers, adding that officials followed existing procedures based on the documents presented.
She disclosed that representatives of the purported agency attended the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence, presenting what appeared to be an Establishment Act and a letter appointing a Director-General.
However, after personally reviewing the documents, the Head of Service said it became clear they were not authentic.
“I have almost 30 years of legal practice experience and immediately I saw it, I knew it was not real,” she said of the purported Establishment Act, while also questioning the authenticity of the appointment letter allegedly issued from the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.
Committee Chairman Yusuf Gagdi revealed that forensic experts from the Nigeria Police Force had confirmed the signatures on the appointment letter did not match those of the genuine signatory.
He also stated that the so-called Establishment Act lacked essential features of valid legislation, including citation numbers and gazette references.
The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation also came under scrutiny after admitting that one of its officials, Bello Abdullahi, handed over an official letter intended for the Permanent Secretary of the State House directly to Adeyemi.
Joshua Luka, Director of the Federal Project Financial Department in the Accountant-General’s Office, described the incident as an individual failure rather than an institutional lapse, insisting the letter should have been delivered to the Permanent Secretary.
The committee, however, faulted the explanation, arguing that the improper handling of the correspondence enabled the alleged fraud to continue undetected.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force informed the committee that Adeyemi could not be produced before lawmakers because he remains in lawful custody under a subsisting court order.
The committee said it has concluded most of its fact-finding exercise and is expected to present preliminary findings next week before submitting its final report to the House of Representatives after lawmakers resume from recess.
