Budget Office: How Expenditure Controls Blocked Payment of N1.3bn to Fake Agency

•Insists payroll, overhead, capital votes never matured into lawful spending

•Declares Budget Office ordered Finance Ministry, Accountant-General to halt payments

•Pledges full cooperation with probe

James Emejo in Abuja

The Director General, Budget Office of the Federation (BoF), Mr. Tanimu Yakubu, yesterday insisted that no public funds were released to the controversial Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC), adding the country’s expenditure control mechanisms prevented budgetary provision from translating into actual spending.Appearing before the House of Representatives’ Committee probing the matter, Yakubu, in a detailed clarification on the council’s appropriation in the 2026 budget, said although the National Assembly approved funds for the body, the legal and administrative conditions required to access public funds were never fulfilled.