Gagdi to Chair Committee as Reps Launch Probe into ₦1.3bn Budget for Alleged Phantom Agency
- The House of Representatives on Wednesday constituted an ad hoc committee to investigate how a non-existent agency secured a ₦1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 federal budget
- The committee, chaired by Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, will trace the disputed PFIPC allocation through the budget process and identify where oversight mechanisms failed
- Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu disclosed he personally received officials of the alleged agency bearing what appeared to be official Presidency correspondence
The House of Representatives on Wednesday, July 8, established an ad hoc committee to investigate how more than ₦1.3 billion found its way into the 2026 federal budget for the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), an organisation the Federal Government has since declared was never lawfully established.
Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi of the All Progressives Congress, representing Plateau State, will chair the panel. The committee was constituted following the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance which Gagdi himself sponsored on the floor of the House.
Source: Facebook
How the PFIPC entered the budget
Gagdi, who led the debate, told lawmakers that the PFIPC reportedly operated out of the Federal Secretariat Complex, Phase III, Abuja between November 2024 and October 2025 and engaged with several government institutions during that period. Despite this activity, no law establishing the organisation exists in the records of the National Assembly.
A statement cited by Legit.ng on Wednesday, July 8, noted that Gagdi said the body appeared to rely on a document purportedly codified as "Chapter N2117, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria," a piece of legislation he described as "manifestly false" because no such law exists. The closest valid statute on the subject, he noted, is the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Act.
"The ease with which a single unestablished entity processed through official channels suggests a systemic vulnerability rather than an isolated administrative lapse," Gagdi said.
He added that criminal proceedings relating to allegations of forgery and impersonation involving the organisation were already before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
What the committee must determine
The ad hoc committee has been directed to establish whether the ₦1.3 billion allocation originated from the Executive's budget proposal or was inserted during legislative deliberations, and to pinpoint exactly where the verification process broke down.
The panel will invite the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning and the Director-General of the Budget Office to account for the procedures used to admit new agencies into the budget. It will also audit all ministries, departments, agencies and government bodies listed in the 2025 and 2026 Appropriation Frameworks against their legal establishment instruments.
The House further directed the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to confirm that no funds have been released and that no payment warrants would be honoured in connection with any PFIPC-related budget line pending the outcome of the investigation. Going forward, the Budget Office will be required to submit a verified list of all entities proposed for funding, along with their legal instruments of establishment, ahead of every Appropriation Bill.
Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who supported the motion, disclosed that he had personally received a delegation claiming to represent the PFIPC after his office received what appeared to be an official communication bearing the Presidency's insignia, a Federal Secretariat address and a government domain name.
He said his suspicion was aroused when the visitors showed little interest in the policy matters raised in their own correspondence and were instead preoccupied with taking photographs.
The committee is required to report its findings back to the full House within four weeks for further legislative action.
Fake agency scandal: 'How I was tricked', Deputy Speaker speaks
Previously, Legit.ng reported that Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, admitted that he granted a meeting to representatives of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) after their correspondence convincingly mimicked official Presidency communications.
Kalu made the disclosure on Wednesday, July 8, during plenary, while contributing to a motion calling for a full investigation into the activities of the purported council, which the Presidency has since disowned.
Source: Legit.ng
