Budget Office: No Funds Released to PEAC/PFIPC

….Says Expenditure Controls Blocked Spending

The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, has defended the inclusion of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC) in the 2026 Appropriation Act, insisting that no public funds were released or spent by the council despite the appropriation.

In a statement issued on Friday titled “The Money That Never Moved: How Nigeria’s Expenditure Controls Prevented the PEAC/PFIPC Appropriation from Becoming Public Expenditure,” Yakubu explained that appropriation alone does not translate into the release or expenditure of public funds.

According to him, the National Assembly’s approval of funds for the council merely provided legal authority for possible spending, but several statutory conditions required before any money could be released were never fulfilled.

He said the Budget Office neither created the council nor approved its establishment, adding that it only assessed the fiscal implications of official documents submitted through recognised government channels.

Yakubu disclosed that although the council requested about ₦3.85 billion for personnel costs, the Budget Office independently reviewed the request using approved staffing structures and salary frameworks, reducing the figure to ₦802.98 million, which was eventually included in the Executive Budget and appropriated by the National Assembly.

He, however, stressed that the Budget Office never issued the mandatory Financial Clearance required before recruitment and salary payments could commence because critical regulatory requirements remained outstanding.

According to the statement, the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission had not confirmed compliance with the approved staffing and remuneration framework, making it impossible for the Budget Office to authorise recruitment or payroll activation.

“As a result, there was no recruitment, no payroll enrolment and no salary payment,” Yakubu stated, adding that not a single kobo of the personnel allocation was drawn.

The Budget Office also clarified that the ₦200 million overhead allocation never became a cash entitlement because the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation were instructed in June 2026 to withhold all payment instruments after concerns emerged over the council’s legal status.

Similarly, the ₦300 million capital allocation never advanced to procurement, as none of the statutory processes—including procurement approvals, Treasury warrants, cash backing or certification by the Bureau of Public Procurement—were completed.

Yakubu maintained that Nigeria’s public finance safeguards functioned effectively, preventing any unlawful expenditure from taking place.

He said the personnel allocation never became payroll expenditure, the overhead allocation was never released as cash, while the capital provision never matured into procurement or spending.

The Budget Office DG argued that the episode demonstrated the resilience of Nigeria’s expenditure control system, noting that the safeguards prevented public funds from leaving the Treasury rather than attempting to recover money after it had been spent.

He reaffirmed the Budget Office’s commitment to cooperating with all lawful investigations and providing records, calculations and official correspondence to establish that no unlawful expenditure occurred.

According to Yakubu, the case underscores the distinction between appropriation and actual expenditure, insisting that “the money never moved because the controls held.”