We Failed To Detect Fake PFIPC Documents — HCSF

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Mrs Esther Didi Walson-Jack, has admitted that her office failed to carry out adequate due diligence before approving requests submitted by the purported Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) and the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), now at the centre of an ongoing House of Representatives investigation.

The admission came as the House Ad-hoc Committee probing the alleged illegal creation of the two bodies disclosed that it uncovered what it described as a network of fake documents allegedly used to obtain government approvals, including recruitment waivers and administrative codes.

Appearing before the committee on Wednesday, Walson-Jack said her office granted an authorised establishment and recruitment waiver after relying on documents that were later discovered to be false.

“We now, having seen all the facts and observed all the documents, concede that we ought to have carried out more due diligence in discharge of the duties of the office in issuing an authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver to the PEAC/PFIPC,” she said.

She explained that representatives of the purported agency attended the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence, where they presented themselves as officials of a newly established federal agency.

According to her, they submitted what appeared to be an Establishment Act and a letter appointing a Director-General, which met the basic requirements her office usually demands before granting recruitment approvals.

She said newly created agencies are expected to present an enabling Act, the appointment letter of the chief executive and other supporting documents before an authorised establishment and provisional recruitment waiver are issued.

According to Walson-Jack, the documents presented were processed in line with existing procedures.

“In over almost a century of the Federal Civil Service, we have never encountered a situation like the current one. Criminals always try to be a step ahead of law enforcement,” she said.

However, she admitted during questioning that the purported Establishment Act was clearly not genuine.

“I requested to see the documents myself and I saw that the Establishment Act was not really an authentic Act. I have almost 30 years of legal practice experience and immediately I saw it, I knew it was not,” she said.

She also said she noticed discrepancies in the appointment letter said to have been issued by the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President after comparing it with authentic government correspondence.

“I’m not a forensic expert, but I can clearly see that the signatures are not the same,” she said.

The committee chairman disclosed that forensic analysis carried out by the Nigeria Police had confirmed that the signatures on the appointment letter were completely different from the genuine signature.

“The police forensic department has already analysed the signatures and confirmed that those signatures are not the same. In fact, according to them, there was not even an attempt to imitate the signature,” the chairman said.

He added that investigations had established that both the appointment letter and the purported Establishment Act were fake.

“You have clearly stated that you acted on false documents. You have now established, just like we have, that the letter of appointment of the so-called DG is not only forged, it is fake.

“If something is forged, there will be an attempt to imitate the signature. But in this case, the signatures are completely different. So I will not call it forged; I will say it is fake,” he said.

The committee further stated that the purported Establishment Act lacked the essential features of a valid Act of the National Assembly.

“Our Acts have citation numbers, Supreme Court numbers, Gazette numbers and Gazette titles. The Act presented here has none of those features,” the chairman said.

Despite admitting shortcomings, Walson-Jack maintained that her office followed established procedures in processing the request.

“Everything was done in accordance with the practice in the office. Out of the 88 ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, processed, we are really surprised that we were unable to detect that PEAC/PFIPC had actually given us a false Establishment Act and what has now been proved to be a false letter of appointment,” she said.

She pledged that the Office of the Head of Service would strengthen its verification processes to prevent a recurrence.

“We take full responsibility and we will definitely review our processes to make them more fraud-proof,” she added.

The committee also questioned officials of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation over the issuance of an administrative code to the purported agency.

A former Director of Consolidation Account and Director of Federal Projects, Mr Joshua Patmi Luka, said his office received what appeared to be an official request from the State House and subsequently sent the administrative code to the Permanent Secretary rather than directly to the agency.

“As part of our due diligence, what we did was to convey the administrative code to the Permanent Secretary, State House, and not to the so-called agency. The idea was that if it was not genuine, the whole thing would be unravelled,” he said.

The committee, however, faulted the process after alleging that the response never reached the Permanent Secretary but was instead collected by the alleged fake Director-General.

It also claimed that the Directorate of Administration and Support Services referenced in the correspondence did not exist within the State House.

“There is no Directorate of Administration and Support Services in the State House. That office does not exist,” the chairman said.

He accused officials of allowing the suspect to collect official correspondence that should have been delivered to the Permanent Secretary.

“You allowed the fraudulent D-G to come and pick the letter from your office instead of allowing someone from the Permanent Secretary’s office to receive it. If the letter had reached the Permanent Secretary, the fraud would have been unravelled immediately,” he said.

Responding, Luka insisted that the failure was the responsibility of an individual officer rather than the institution.

“The problem here was not an office lapse, it was an individual lapse. Somebody was supposed to deliver that letter to the Permanent Secretary, State House, and it was not delivered there,” he said.

The committee maintained that evidence before it pointed to a coordinated scheme involving fake appointment letters, fabricated legislative documents and fictitious State House offices to obtain government approvals and gain access to official budgetary processes.

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police at the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre, Olufemi Akinola, informed the committee that the alleged Director-General of the purported agency, Prince Adeniyi Matthew Adeyemi, could not be produced because he remained in lawful custody under a subsisting court order.

The committee had earlier directed the police to produce Adeyemi before it.

Akinola assured lawmakers of the police’s continued cooperation but explained that producing the suspect would require an order from a court of competent jurisdiction.

“The Nigerian Police Force may not be able to produce a suspect as requested… in view of the subsisting warrant. The Nigerian Police Force has one of the constitutional oversight powers of the National Assembly and remains committed to cooperate with the committee in the discharge of its mandate.

“However, in this case, it will be appreciated if the reproduction warrant could be sought from the court of competent jurisdiction to enable police comply with this request,” he said.

The hearing witnessed tense exchanges between the committee and several government officials, with the committee chairman repeatedly interrupting witnesses while questioning them.

The committee said it would conclude the clarification stage of its investigation before presenting its preliminary findings to the public next week ahead of submitting its final report to the House of Representatives after lawmakers resume from recess.

Join us on our WhatsApp Platform @KOIKIMEDIA NEWS YOUR PAGE

koikimedia Bringing the World 🌎 Closer to Your Doorstep