The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, admitted that her office failed to carry out adequate due diligence before granting key approvals to the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), stressing that a scandal like that is unpredictable.
She stated this yesterday while appearing before the House Ad-Hoc Committee probing the alleged creation of the PFIPC and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council without legal backing.
The ongoing probe by the House of Representatives centres on allegations that Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi, who presented himself as the Director-General of the PFIPC, secured official recognition for the body using allegedly fake appointment letters, fabricated legislative documents and other forged government records, despite the agency having no legal backing.
The House committee is investigating how several federal institutions processed and acted on the documents, leading to the purported agency receiving official approvals.
Walson-Jack conceded that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation acted on documents which had now been established 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 the discharge of the duties of the office in issuing an authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver to the PEAC/PFIPC,” she told the panel.
Top Society reports that an authorised establishment refers to an administrative approval given to an organisation by a relevant government body to operate or carry out specific activities having met certain legal or regulatory requirements.
The HoS explained that officials of the purported agency attended the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence, presenting themselves as representatives of a newly established federal agency and tendering what appeared to be an Establishment Act alongside a letter appointing a Director-General.
According to her, existing civil service procedures require newly established agencies seeking to recruit staff to submit an enabling Act, the appointment letter of the chief executive and other relevant documents before an authorised establishment and provisional recruitment waiver are granted.
She said her office processed the request based on the documents presented, describing the incident as unprecedented.
“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, when subjected to further questioning, Walson-Jack admitted that the supposed 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 real,” she stated.
She also questioned the authenticity of the letter purportedly issued by the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President appointing the alleged Director-General.
When asked to compare the different documents signed by Femi Gbajabiamila to the letter appointing Adeyemi, the Head of Service admitted that the signature on the appointment letter was different from those on other documents.
“I’m not a forensic expert, but I can clearly see that the signatures are not the same,” she added.