The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the leadership of the National Assembly to explain the allocation of more than N1.3 billion to a presidential council that the Presidency itself has described as non-existent.
In a Freedom of Information request dated 4 July 2026, SERAP urged Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas to disclose all documents relating to the approval of the N1,302,978,784 allocation to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), also listed in the budget as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
The controversy arose after the Presidency issued a statement on 1 July 2026 denying the existence of the body. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, described the PFIPC as a fictitious entity that was never established by the Federal Government.
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The Office of the Chief of Staff and other government institutions reportedly confirmed that no such agency exists within the Federal Government structure.
SERAP argued that the conflicting accounts raise serious concerns regarding the integrity of Nigeria’s appropriations process, legislative oversight, public financial management and accountability.
The organisation stressed that the National Assembly has a constitutional duty not merely to approve the Executive’s budget proposals but to scrutinise, debate and authorise public expenditure in line with the Constitution.
“Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law,” SERAP stated, adding that the National Assembly ought to keep the Presidency and agencies of government in check during the appropriation process.
The rights group requested certified copies of records identifying members of the National Assembly committees that considered the allocation, as well as the names and official designations of public officers who defended the proposed allocation before those committees.
SERAP also demanded clarification on whether the allocation formed part of the Executive’s original Appropriation Bill or was introduced during the legislative process, and whether any lawmaker raised concerns regarding the legal status of the body.
The 2026 Appropriation Act, which President Bola Tinubu assented to on 17 April 2026, allocated the sum of N1.3 billion to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council as one of the agencies under the Presidency.
The budget breakdown showed N573,260,187 for salaries and N300,000,000 for “Research and Development” classified as “Acquisition of Non-Tangible Assets”.
However, the situation has taken a dramatic turn, with Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claims to be the head of the disputed agency, rejecting the Presidency’s rebuttals.
According to reports, Adeyemi revealed that the agency holds a Treasury Single Account at the Central Bank of Nigeria and has operated from an office at the Federal Secretariat for over a year.
He also alleged that he secured the appointment after paying the President’s Chief of Staff N400 million through a proxy.
SERAP has given the National Assembly seven days to comply with its demands, warning that failure to respond would result in legal action to compel disclosure in the public interest.
The organisation maintained that the requested records concern matters of exceptional public importance, relating directly to the integrity of Nigeria’s budgetary process and the lawful establishment and funding of public institutions.
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