Mrs Esther Walson Jack
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Esther Walson-Jack, on Wednesday accepted full responsibility for her office’s failure to properly verify documents used to secure official approvals for the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), admitting that stricter scrutiny could have exposed the alleged fraud much earlier.
Walson-Jack made the admission while appearing before the House of Representatives committee investigating the circumstances under which the disputed agency obtained official recognition and a ₦1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
Her testimony marks the clearest acknowledgement yet by a senior government official that lapses within the civil service contributed to the approval of an organisation now at the centre of an alleged forgery and impersonation scandal.
The Head of Service told lawmakers that her office authorised the council’s staffing structure and granted a recruitment waiver after receiving what appeared to be its establishment Act, alongside a letter appointing Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi as Director-General.
She explained that officials also relied on engagements with representatives of the organisation, then identified as PEAC/PFIPC, before issuing the approvals.
However, she conceded that the documents should have undergone a far more rigorous authentication process.
“Having seen all the facts and examined the documents, we concede that we ought to have carried out more due diligence before issuing the authorised establishment and recruitment waiver,” she said.
“We take full responsibility. We will review our processes to ensure they become more fraud-proof and prevent a recurrence.”
Walson-Jack acknowledged that officials were familiar with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), an ad hoc body, and that the similarity in the documents presented may have contributed to the oversight. She maintained, however, that a more robust verification process could have uncovered the alleged forgery before approvals were granted.
The PFIPC controversy has drawn the Presidency into the spotlight after Adeyemi allegedly claimed that his appointment as Director-General was signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
The Presidency has firmly denied the claim, insisting the appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature was forged. It also disclosed that the Chief of Staff had earlier petitioned security agencies over the alleged falsification.
Adeyemi was arrested on July 14 by operatives of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in Osun State as investigations into the alleged fake agency continue.
The House committee is seeking to establish how an organisation without legal backing was able to obtain official approvals, recruit personnel and secure a budgetary allocation, while identifying institutional weaknesses that allowed the alleged scheme to slip through government oversight.