Barbara Bako, Abuja.
The Federal Government has said the N1.3 billion appropriated to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC) in the 2026 budget was never released or spent.
Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, said the funds remained locked within the government’s expenditure-control system because the legal and financial conditions required for spending were never met.
In a statement on Friday, Yakubu said the appropriation comprised N802.98 million for personnel, N200 million for overhead and N300 million for capital expenditure.
He said the N802.98 million personnel provision never translated into payroll spending because the council did not obtain Financial Clearance, recruit staff or enrol employees on the Federal Government payroll.
“Not one kobo of the personnel provision could lawfully have been drawn. Not one kobo was drawn,” he said.
Yakubu explained that while the National Assembly had appropriated the funds, appropriation alone did not authorise the release or spending of public money.
He said the Budget Office independently arrived at the N802.98 million personnel provision after rejecting a N3.85 billion personnel estimate submitted by the council.
According to him, the Budget Office based its calculation on the authorised establishment, approved recruitment waiver, applicable public-service salary structure and existing costing methodology.
The Budget Office boss said Financial Clearance was never issued because the conditions for lawful recruitment had not been completed.
He noted that although the 2026 Appropriation Act received presidential assent on March 31, 2026, the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission had yet to confirm that the council’s proposed staffing and remuneration arrangements complied with the approved public-service compensation framework.
The N200 million overhead provision also remained unreleased, Yakubu said, adding that the required Treasury warrant and cash backing were not provided.
He said the Budget Office, following concerns that emerged in June over the council’s status, formally directed the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to withhold all instruments that could facilitate payment.
Similarly, the N300 million capital provision never reached the procurement stage.
Yakubu said no relevant Ministerial Tenders Board approval was obtained, no Certificate of No Objection was issued by the Bureau of Public Procurement where required, and no warrant or Treasury cash backing followed.
He said the three components of the appropriation were stopped at different stages of the expenditure process, preventing the funds from becoming actual government expenditure.
“The law did not recover money after it had gone. It prevented the money from going,” Yakubu said.
He added that the Budget Office would cooperate with any lawful inquiry and provide relevant records, computations, correspondence and system evidence to establish the facts surrounding the appropriation.
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