The Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF), Tnimu Kurfi, has confirmed that funds were appropriated for the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) in the 2026 budget of the federal government.
He, however, insisted that no funds were spent from the allocated amount before the discovery that the PFIPC was a phantom agency, adding that appropriation was not expenditure.
Addressing the Yusuf Gagdi-led Ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives investigating the existence and operations of the agency on Friday in Abuja, Kurfi said the appropriation of funds by the National Assembly was a “fact not in dispute.”
He said, “An appropriation is authority in law to make provision for an expenditure. It is not a cheque. It is not a warrant. It is not cash released from the treasury.
“Before money can move, other conditions must be met. Different institutions must act. Each must complete its own part. If one condition fails, the chain stops. That is what happened here.
“Public money moves only after every institution in the chain has done its work and every condition has been met. The system is designed this way because public finance cannot rest on trust alone.”
