PFIPC Budget Scandal: Senate Defers Action Pending ICPC Findings

The Senate on Wednesday rejected an urgent motion seeking the condemnation and investigation of the controversy surrounding the existence or otherwise of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for which the National Assembly appropriated N1.

3 billion in the 2026 budget.
The motion, sponsored by Senator Sumaila Kawu (Kano South), was raised at the commencement of plenary under Orders 9 and 9C of the Senate Standing Rules. According to the lawmaker, the controversy directly affects the integrity and credibility of the National Assembly.
Presenting the motion, Kawu argued that the inclusion of a purportedly non-existent or unauthorised entity in the national budget undermines the credibility of the appropriation process, exposes weaknesses in institutional budgetary scrutiny, erodes public confidence in the National Assembly, and subjects the Federal Government to avoidable domestic and international criticism over transparency, accountability and fiscal governance.
He further warned that unless the circumstances surrounding the inclusion of the PFIPC in the 2026 Appropriation Act are thoroughly investigated, public confidence in the integrity of the budgetary process and the oversight functions of the National Assembly could be significantly diminished.
The senator therefore urged the Senate to condemn what he described as the administrative lapses, internal collaboration or fraudulent schemes that enabled a purportedly non-existent or unauthorised entity under Budget Code 0111062001 to be included in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
He also called on the Senate Committees on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, as well as Appropriations, to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the inclusion of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) in the budget. The proposed probe, he said, should determine how the sum of N1,302,978,784 was proposed, scrutinised, justified and approved; identify the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), public officials or other persons responsible for facilitating the agency’s inclusion in the budget; and establish whether any funds had been released, committed or spent under the allocation, including whether any bank account had been opened or operated for the budget line.
However, the Senate, presided over by Deputy President Barau Jibrin, declined to put the prayers of the motion to a voice vote, explaining that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) was already investigating the matter on the directive of President Bola Tinubu.
Barau said, “Senator Kawu, you have tabled your motion and the Senate has noted it, but since the issue is being critically investigated by the ICPC as directed by President Tinubu, the Senate will await the report of the commission before taking any action on the controversial issue.”
Speaking with journalists after plenary, Senator Kawu said he was satisfied that although the Senate did not adopt the prayers of his motion, he was pleased that the issue was formally presented before the chamber.
He explained that he deliberately relied on Orders 9 and 9C of the Senate Rules to ensure that the matter, which he described as fundamental to the constitutional responsibility of the National Assembly on budget appropriation, received attention.
Kawu stressed that the controversial agency, listed under Budget Code 0111062001 with a budgetary allocation of N1,302,978,784 in the 2026 Appropriation Act passed by the National Assembly, requires a thorough investigation to identify those responsible for its insertion into the budget.