Buhari Media Group Says PFIPC Wasn't Created by Buhari

Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) says the late President Muhammadu Buhari did not create the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) or the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC).

In a statement shared with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, the group called claims that Buhari set up the agency false.

NAN reported that the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) explained on Friday that PFIPC, which the presidency labeled fake and is being investigated by the ICPC, started during the Buhari administration.

BOF Director-General Tanimu Yakubu provided this information after meeting with members of the House of Representatives. He said PFIPC was based on the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, which Buhari inaugurated on 9 October 2019.

He also detailed how the fake agency was given money in the 2026 budget.

"PEAC/PFIPC did not enter the 2026 budget simply because it requested funds. The council started from the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, inaugurated by late President Muhammadu Buhari on 9 October 2019," he said.

However, the media office of the late president clarified that what Buhari established was the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC). They said that initially, PEAC worked from the second floor of the Ministry of Health at the Federal Secretariat. This space was meant for the Chief Economic Adviser, a position Buhari did not fill until much later.

BMO added that under the last administration, PEAC did not have a budget line. Its activities were funded through presidential approvals to the Minister of Finance.

"PEAC was an ad-hoc (part-time) body, purely advisory, made up of professional economists and financial experts to give economic advice to the president. It was chaired by Prof. Doyin Salami, CFR, before he became the Chief Economic Adviser.

"Other members included Prof. Mahmuda Sagagi, Vice-Chairman, along with Prof. Ode Ojowu, Dr. Shehu Yahaya, Dr. Iyabo Masha, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Mr. Bismark Rewane, and Dr. Mohammed Salisu, Senior Special Assistant to the president on Development Policy, as secretary.

"They did not receive salaries, but office expenses were covered by the Permanent Secretary, State House, with approval from the president.

"When the current administration came into power in 2023, it neither dissolved the Buhari-appointed PEAC nor re-appointed its members.

"The members, being political appointees, felt their term ended when the administration that appointed them left office.

"The office at the secretariat, labeled both as 'Presidential Economic Advisory Council' and 'Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President,' remained empty. It was only used two to three years later by others," the organisation said.

They added that news reports claiming the ongoing "comedy-drama" about the supposed fake government agency stemmed from the Buhari administration were false, baseless, and had no factual support.