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The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday rejected calls for a probe into the N1.3 billion budgetary allocation to the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), opting instead to await the outcome of the investigation ordered by President Bola Tinubu.
The upper chamber said it would defer any legislative action until the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) concludes its ongoing investigation into the controversial allocation.
The senator representing Kano South, Kawu Sumaila, had urged the Senate to investigate how the agency, which the Presidency has described as non-existent, secured a N1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
According to Sumaila, the controversy surrounding the PFIPC has raised serious concerns about the integrity of the nation’s budget process.
He noted that despite the executive’s public disowning of the agency, it was allocated N1,302,978,000 under budget code 0111062001 in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
“I rise today under Order 9 and Rule 9(c) of the Senate Standing Orders, 2026, to draw the attention of this Hallowed Chamber to a matter of grave institutional concern.
“The issues raised directly affect the integrity of the Senate, the credibility of the National Assembly and the effective exercise of our constitutional oversight and appropriation responsibilities.
“Notwithstanding the executive’s public disapproval of this agency, the entirety was incorporated in the 2026 Appropriation Act under Code 0111062001 with a budgetary allocation of N1,302,978,000, thereby raising a serious question regarding the integrity of the budget preparation and appropriation process,” he said.
According to the senator, the allocation comprised more than N800 million for personnel costs, over N200 million for overheads and more than N300 million for capital expenditure.
Sumaila argued that the inclusion of a purportedly non-existent agency in the national budget undermined public confidence in the appropriation process and exposed weaknesses in legislative scrutiny.
He urged the Senate to mandate its Committees on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, and Appropriations to investigate how the allocation was proposed, scrutinised, justified and approved.
The lawmaker also called for an inquiry into whether any funds had been released, committed or spent under the budget line and whether any bank account had been opened or operated in connection with the allocation.
However, the Senate leadership opposed the proposal, citing the ongoing ICPC investigation.
Responding, the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, said the Presidency had already directed the anti-graft agency to investigate the matter and that the commission had commenced work.
He said the Senate should wait for the outcome of the investigation before deciding on any further legislative action.
“As I said earlier, the presidency has taken up this matter by directing that the ICPC should investigate fully how this matter came to be.
“And I think ICPC has started. I believe that what we need to do at this stage is to have the report of the ICPC, and then we can act on that report and deal with it as we feel appropriate,” Barau said.
The controversy erupted after President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday directed the ICPC to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the activities of the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, which the Presidency said was never established by the Nigerian Government and has no legal basis.
