CBN confirms opening two foreign bank accounts for PFIPC but says they were never activated

The Central Bank of Nigeria has told a House of Representatives investigative committee that two foreign currency accounts created for the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council have recorded zero transactions since they were opened. The disclosure contradicts the Accountant-General's earlier claim that no PFIPC accounts ever existed.

CBN official gives testimony before House committee

The CBN's Director of Banking Services, Hamisu Ibrahim, appeared before the House Ad-hoc Committee on Monday. He said the bank opened a United States dollar account and a British pounds sterling account for the council after receiving a formal mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation on July 30, 2025, following a request dated July 29, 2025.

Ibrahim told lawmakers that CBN policy requires an official mandate from the OAGF before any government account can be established, and that the bank carried out the necessary verification before proceeding.

He said: 'The process of opening an account requires a mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. Once we receive that mandate, we carry out the necessary verification to confirm that it is genuine before proceeding with the account opening.'

He added that despite the accounts being created, the CBN never received the documents needed to make them operational, including authorised signatories and signature cards.

Ibrahim said, noting that account statements had been shared with the committee: 'As a result, both accounts have remained inactive with zero balances from inception to date. There have been no inflows, outflows or foreign exchange allocations on either account.'

Accountant-General's earlier claim contradicted

The testimony directly contradicts an earlier submission by Accountant-General Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, who had told the same committee that no bank accounts were opened in the PFIPC's name.

Also before the committee, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, denied that her office provided office space to the council. She said the address linked to the PFIPC belongs to accommodation officially assigned to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for presidential bodies.

Walson-Jack disclosed that during the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence Exercise, the council submitted documents through a representative named Patricia Akhigbe, including an appointment letter for its director-general and details of its mandate. Based on those documents, an authorised establishment for 314 positions and a recruitment waiver were processed. She was clear that her office neither deployed staff to the council nor approved any recruitment, and confirmed that Akhigbe had since been invited for questioning by the police.

Key officials summoned as probe widens

Following the session, committee chairman Yusuf Gagdi summoned the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, the Inspector-General of Police, and ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Justice, Budget and National Planning, among others, to appear before the panel on Thursday, July 23.

President Bola Tinubu had earlier directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate the PFIPC within 30 days, with several senior government officials already questioned as part of the probe.

For Nigerian businesses and the naira, the revelation that two foreign currency accounts sat dormant with zero activity raises questions about how government bodies handle foreign exchange accounts and the oversight around them. The ongoing probe could lead to tighter controls on government account openings at the CBN.