Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has called for a judicial inquiry into the PFIPC scandal. He said the controversy points to deeper institutional failure and possible collusion within government.
According to The Punch, Lawal spoke during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday. During the interview, he questioned how the alleged fake Presidential Fiscal and Infrastructure Projects Council reportedly secured a budget code and operated within government processes.
The former SGF said authorities should not treat the matter as a simple administrative error. He insisted that only a judicial inquiry can properly expose those involved.
“I don’t think it should even be administrative alone; it should be a judicial inquiry,” Lawal said.
He also questioned claims that the alleged agency received a ₦27.5bn take-off grant before the controversy over a ₦1.3bn budget insertion became public.
Lawal said Nigerians should look beyond the budget insertion and ask how such a large amount allegedly left government coffers. The agency’s legal status remains in dispute, according to him.
“Who gave him the money? It was not appropriated for; it’s not in any budget, that N27.5bn Naira for which he says somebody demanded 48%. Who gave him the money?” he asked.
He argued that the controversy only became public because of disagreement over the alleged sharing of funds. It did not become public because government oversight worked properly.
“We are just talking about the tip of the iceberg here. Down there, before we got to here, N27.5bn had already been disbursed, according to him, as a take-off grant,” he said.
Lawal described the issue as a case of institutional compromise. He said the Office of the SGF should have detected any irregularity before the alleged agency passed through government channels.
“It’s institutional compromise, because in this, I sense there’s quite a big racket going on somewhere along the line,” he said.
He also questioned how the Budget Office assigned a budget code to an agency that allegedly had no legal backing.
“How did they manage to assign the budget code for this agency that does not exist? Who inserted it?” Lawal asked.
The former SGF said the budget process should have exposed the alleged irregularity before the matter reached the National Assembly.
He argued that the SGF’s office had a duty to flag any agency without proper legal status before its budget moved forward.
“Unless there’s a dereliction of duty by the SGF’s office, the responsibility to flag that this is a fake agency would have come from them,” he said.
Lawal also criticised the National Assembly, accusing lawmakers of failing to scrutinise budget proposals properly.
“This National Assembly has no interest in scrutinising the budget that comes before them,” he said.
He further urged Nigerians to focus on those who allegedly enabled the agency’s operations. He said Nigerians should not only debate whether the agency legally existed.
Lawal said powerful individuals may have supported the alleged agency and called for their exposure.
The PFIPC scandal has continued to raise questions over budget scrutiny and institutional accountability. Moreover, it raises questions about the role of officials who allegedly allowed the disputed agency to operate within government structures.
