A lawmaker representing Kano South Senatorial District has urged the Senate to investigate the inclusion of an alleged fake agency in the 2026 national budget.
Senator Sulaiman Kawu Sumaila, relying on Orders 9 and 9(c) of the Senate Standing Orders on privileges, presented the motion, which allows him to do so without interference from the presiding officer.
Presenting the motion, Senator Sumaila said the controversy surrounding the alleged agency, PFIPC, had cast doubt on the integrity of the National Assembly’s budget process.
He noted that despite the executive’s public disowning of the agency, it received an allocation of ₦1.3 billion under budget code 0111062001 in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
According to him, the allocation includes more than ₦800 million for personnel costs, over ₦200 million for overheads, and more than ₦300 million for capital expenditure.
Senator Sumaila said the inclusion of a purportedly non-existent agency in the national budget undermines public confidence in the appropriation process and exposes weaknesses in legislative scrutiny.
He urged the Senate to mandate its Committees on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, and Appropriations to investigate how the allocation was proposed, scrutinised, justified and approved.
The lawmaker also called for an inquiry into whether any funds had been released, committed or spent under the budget line, and whether any bank account had been opened or operated in connection with the allocation.
Responding, the Deputy senate president Barau Jibrin who presided over the session said the presidency had already directed the ICPC to investigate the matter and that the anti-graft agency had commenced its work.
He said the Senate would wait for the outcome of the ICPC investigation before deciding on any further action.
“As I said earlier, the presidency has taken up this matter by directing that the ICPC should investigate fully how this matter came to be.
The Senate, therefore, declined to deliberate on the motion seeking to investigate the inclusion of Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
Cov/Bashir M
