Nigeria probes alleged fraud in foreign investment council

Nigeria’s House of Representatives is probing allegations that the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) was operating on forged credentials. Lawmakers are examining whether Adeyemi Adeniyi fraudulently posed as the council's director-general using a fake presidential appointment letter.

Didi Walson-Jack, the head of the Civil Service of the Federation, testified on Monday that her office never provided workspace to the PFIPC. "We can state categorically that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation did not allocate any office space to the council," she said. She noted the space the council claimed at the Federal Secretariat, Phase III, actually belongs to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Despite lacking official recognition, the council successfully navigated the federal bureaucracy to secure an authorised establishment for 314 positions. Walson-Jack told lawmakers the PFIPC had previously sought structural approval but was rejected for lacking required documentation. That changed during the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence Exercise, when the council submitted additional papers, including the director-general's appointment letter and its mandate details. The application was processed alongside those of 87 other Ministries, Departments and Agencies, leading to the 314-position approval and a subsequent recruitment waiver.

Walson-Jack emphasized that her office neither recruited nor deployed staff to the council, as individual agencies handle their own hiring. She told the committee that oversight of presidential councils falls outside her mandate, directing further enquiries to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Institutional risk for foreign capital

The alleged operation of an unverified body under the guise of promoting foreign capital exposes vulnerabilities in Nigeria's public sector oversight. For international investors, the prospect of a phantom agency misusing government facilities and potentially public funds undermines confidence in official state channels. Due diligence processes for foreign direct investment often involve direct engagement with government promotion councils. The fact that such an entity secured a 314-person headcount without standard bureaucratic safeguards is a critical red flag in assessing institutional risk and governance standards in the Nigerian market.

The parliamentary committee continues to investigate the council’s funding, operations, and the legality of its creation.