By Ayo Ayodele
The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, has defended the controversial appropriation for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC), insisting that no public funds were released or spent despite the allocation approved by the National Assembly.
In a detailed media statement titled “The Money That Never Moved: How Nigeria’s Expenditure Controls Prevented the PEAC/PFIPC Appropriation from Becoming Public Expenditure,” issued on Friday, Yakubu said the council’s appropriation never translated into actual spending because critical legal and administrative conditions required for the release of public funds were never fulfilled.
He explained that while Parliament appropriated funds for the council, appropriation alone does not amount to expenditure, stressing that several statutory approvals and financial controls must be completed before any government money can be released.
According to him, the Budget Office merely assessed the fiscal implications of existing government approvals and did not establish the council or approve its staffing. He disclosed that although the council requested ₦3.85 billion for personnel costs, the Budget Office independently reduced the estimate to ₦802.98 million based on approved staffing levels and public service salary structures.
Yakubu maintained that the Budget Office never issued the mandatory Financial Clearance required for recruitment and salary payments because key regulatory conditions, including confirmation from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, were not met.
“As a result, there was no lawful recruitment, no payroll enrolment and no salary payment,” he said, adding that the personnel allocation remained only a figure in the Appropriation Act and never became actual expenditure.
The Budget Office boss further explained that the ₦200 million overhead allocation was never released because, after questions emerged over the council’s legal status in June 2026, the office formally requested the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to withhold all payment instruments.
He also dismissed claims that the ₦300 million capital allocation was accessed, noting that no procurement process commenced, no Ministerial Tenders Board approved any transaction, no Bureau of Public Procurement Certificate of No Objection was issued, and no treasury warrant or cash backing followed.
Yakubu argued that the case demonstrates the effectiveness of Nigeria’s public financial management system, saying the safeguards built into the expenditure process prevented any unauthorized spending.
He said each component of the appropriation was halted at different stages of the expenditure chain—personnel at Financial Clearance, overhead before treasury warranting and cash backing, and capital before procurement approvals.
“The money never moved because the controls held,” Yakubu stated, insisting that “not one kobo” of the personnel allocation was drawn, the overhead allocation never became a lawful cash release, and the capital vote never matured into procurement or expenditure.
He added that there is no personnel expenditure to recover because none occurred, stressing that the Budget Office would continue to cooperate with all lawful investigations by providing documents, calculations and official records to establish the facts.
The statement comes amid ongoing public scrutiny and investigations into the PEAC/PFIPC appropriation, with questions raised over the council’s legal status and the budgetary provisions made in its favour. Yakubu maintained that the controversy should distinguish between parliamentary appropriation and actual expenditure, arguing that Nigeria’s financial control mechanisms successfully prevented public funds from being disbursed.