The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed opening two domiciliary accounts linked to the controversial presidential foreign investment promotion council (PFIPC) on the directive of the office of the accountant-general of the federation (OAGF).
The apex bank, however, said the accounts, one denominated in United States dollars and the other in British pounds sterling, were never funded or operated.
Abdullahi Hamisu, director of banking services at the CBN, made the disclosure on Monday while appearing before the house of representatives ad hoc committee investigating the legal basis, operations, and budgetary inclusion of the PFIPC, as well as the N1.3 billion allocated to the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
Hamisu, representing Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN, said the bank received a formal mandate dated July 29, 2025, from the OAGF to open the accounts for the ‘Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council’.
He said the CBN carried out its standard account-opening procedures before creating the accounts.
Responding to questions from lawmakers on whether the apex bank requested an enabling law establishing the council before opening the accounts, Hamisu said the CBN acted solely on the mandate received from the accountant-general’s office.
“We don’t ask for an enabling Act. We received a mandate from the office of the accountant-general of the federation to open the accounts for the council,” he said.
The disclosure comes weeks following contradictory statements by the presidency and the OAGF about the status of accounts linked to the controversial PFIPC domiciled in the CBN.
On July 1, the presidency said the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) discovered that Adeniyi Adeyemi, the embattled director-general of the PFIPC, allegedly used forged documents to create a CBN account by misleading the OAGF.
Presidency’s statement, issued by Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, said the police also discovered that Adeyemi operated 34 bank accounts, with nine opened in the names of fictitious agencies known as the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Public Private Partnership (FIPA-APP) and the FCT Investment Promotion Act.
However, Bawa Mokwa, director of public relations at the OAGF, said PFIPC has no operational account with the CBN.
Mokwa said although an application was made to open a CBN account, the process was never completed because the required documentation to activate the account was not submitted.