HoS Admits Lapse in PFIPC Verification, Accepts Responsibility

Head of Service admits verification failures allowed fake PFIPC documents to secure staffing approval and recruitment waiver.

Esther Walson-Jack, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, has admitted that her office failed to carry out adequate due diligence before approving the staffing structure and recruitment waiver for the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).

Walson-Jack made the admission on Wednesday while appearing before the committee investigating the controversy surrounding the PFIPC and the ₦1.3 billion allocated to the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act.

She told lawmakers that her office granted the approvals after receiving what appeared to be the council’s establishment Act and a letter of appointment presented by Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claimed to be the organisation’s director-general.

According to her, the approvals were based on the documents submitted and interactions between officials of her office and representatives of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC)/PFIPC.

However, she acknowledged that subsequent findings revealed the documents presented were fake.

Walson-Jack admitted that stronger verification procedures could have uncovered the fraud before approvals were granted.

She said her office accepted responsibility for the oversight and would review its internal processes to make them more resistant to fraud.

The Head of Service explained that the existence of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council may have contributed to the assumption that the documents linking it with the PFIPC were genuine.

The controversy has also drawn in Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, after Adeyemi alleged that his appointment letter was issued by the presidential aide.

Gbajabiamila has denied the allegation, while the Presidency maintained that the appointment letter bearing his signature was forged.

The Chief of Staff had earlier petitioned security agencies over the matter.

Adeyemi was arrested on July 14 by operatives of the Police Intelligence Response Team in Osun State as investigations into the alleged fraud continue.

Lawmakers are expected to continue their probe into the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the PFIPC, the authenticity of its documents and the budgetary allocation made to the organisation in the 2026 fiscal year.