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Fresh documents have raised new questions over the controversy surrounding the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), with records indicating that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) received, acknowledged and processed an official request for office accommodation from the body months before the Presidency declared it a fictitious agency. The correspondence, dated November 21, 2024, was signed by the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office, Nnamdi Maurice Mbaeri, on behalf of the SGF and forwarded a request from Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who identified himself as the PFIPC’s Director-General, seeking office space from recovered Federal Government properties managed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to the documents, Adeyemi’s original request, dated November 7, 2024, was received by the SGF’s office on November 12 before being forwarded to the EFCC nine days later for further action. In his letter, Adeyemi presented the PFIPC as a Federal Government agency established to promote foreign direct investment and coordinate investment activities across ministries and agencies. The revelations appear to contradict the Presidency’s earlier insistence that the council never existed, although officials maintain that any correspondence processed did not amount to official recognition of the organisation.
The development has intensified calls for an independent investigation into the PFIPC saga. Human rights lawyer Femi Falana and opposition parties have demanded a thorough probe into how the alleged agency interacted with several government institutions, while the Presidency has insisted that Adeyemi operated a fraudulent scheme with the help of internal collaborators. Presidential aides say security agencies, including the DSS, EFCC, and Nigeria Police Force, have been directed to identify and prosecute anyone who facilitated the alleged operation, maintaining that the government remains committed to uncovering the full extent of the scandal.
