The Senate has refused to begin a fresh investigation into the controversial ₦1.3 billion budget allocation linked to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), choosing instead to wait for the outcome of the ongoing probe ordered by President Bola Tinubu.
The proposal was brought before lawmakers by Senator Suleiman Kawu (APC, Kano South) during Wednesday’s plenary. He urged the Senate to investigate how the PFIPC, which has been described by the Presidency as a non-existent body, found its way into the 2026 Appropriation Act with a budget of over ₦1.3 billion.
According to Kawu, the controversy has raised serious questions about the credibility of Nigeria’s budget process and the integrity of the National Assembly. He noted that despite the Presidency distancing itself from the PFIPC, the agency still appeared in the budget under Budget Code 0111062001, with allocations for personnel, overhead and capital projects.
The senator also called for an investigation into the officials or agencies responsible for including the council in the budget and whether any public funds had already been released or spent under the allocation.
However, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who presided over the session, ruled that the matter should not proceed in the Senate because President Bola Tinubu had already directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the issue.
Barau advised lawmakers to await the outcome of the anti-graft agency’s findings before considering any further legislative action.
As a result, the Senate rejected the motion for a separate parliamentary investigation, leaving the ICPC to continue its probe into the controversial budget allocation.
