PFIPC: State House Denies Backing ‘Fake’ Agency as FRSC Explains Number Plate Approval

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) has uncovered fresh inconsistencies surrounding the establishment of the purported government agency, as the State House denied any role in its creation while the Federal Road Safety Corps explained how it approved official number plates for the organisation.

During the investigative hearing at the National Assembly in Abuja on Thursday, officials from both institutions appeared before lawmakers to clarify their involvement in the activities of the council, which is alleged to have operated without legal approval.

Representing the Permanent Secretary of the State House, Director of Administration Abdulkadri Idris told the committee that the Presidency neither established the PFIPC nor requested the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to generate a budget code for the organisation.

He stated that the Presidency only became aware of the council through media reports and insisted that no correspondence authorising its creation was ever issued.

Idris also dismissed documents presented before the committee as fraudulent, explaining that they bore the name of a director and a department that never existed within the State House.

According to him, official records submitted to investigators confirmed that no individual identified as Akande Adewale had ever served as Director of Administration and that there was no Directorate of Administration and Support Services in the Presidency.

Following the testimony, committee chairman Yusuf Gagdi said the evidence exposed serious contradictions between records obtained from the Accountant-General’s Office and authentic State House documents.

The hearing also featured testimony from the Federal Road Safety Corps, which defended its allocation of seven official Federal Government number plates to the PFIPC.

FRSC Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed explained that the request was processed after officials received application letters, supporting documents, visited the council’s office at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja and verified a government website carrying a federal domain name.

Based on those checks, the Corps approved official registration numbers for seven vehicles, including a bulletproof Lexus LX, Toyota Land Cruisers and Toyota Hilux trucks.

However, Mohammed admitted that the Corps later discovered the council was not a recognised Federal Government agency and described the revelation as shocking.

He disclosed that administrative steps had already commenced to retrieve all official number plates issued to the organisation while internal verification procedures had been strengthened to prevent similar incidents.

The House committee directed the FRSC to provide details of the current location of all vehicles registered under the PFIPC and announced that its investigation would conclude next Wednesday before submitting recommendations on those responsible for the alleged fraud.