Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi, who describes himself as the Director-General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), has claimed he was no longer involved in efforts to secure funding for the agency by the time a N1.3 billion allocation appeared in the federal budget.
Adeniyi made the disclosure in a recorded interview with social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan.
The interview was reportedly released shortly after Adeniyi’s arrest over allegations of forgery, impersonation and conspiracy in connection with the operations of the PFIPC.
According to Adeniyi, he visited the Budget Office in December 2024 to seek the inclusion of the PFIPC in the 2025 Appropriation Bill but was informed that the submission process had already closed.
“I went to that Budget Office for the 2025 budget. I submitted the letter and everything that I wanted, but I was told it was already late. When the 2025 budget came out and I didn’t see it, they told me it would now be for the 2026 budget,” he said.
He further alleged that a female official at the Budget Office facilitated a meeting with senior officials, during which he was asked to offer a gratification before his proposal could be considered.
“She helped me to see the oga. Oga now said, ‘Where is my shini?’ I said I don’t have any shini. He later asked me to meet one director,” Adeniyi claimed.
According to him, the director explained that the PFIPC could not be included in the 2025 budget because the process had already been concluded but indicated that it could be considered during the next budget cycle.
Adeniyi said his subsequent legal troubles and arrest brought his efforts to establish the proposed agency to an end, insisting that he had no knowledge of how the PFIPC was later included in the budget.
The PFIPC has attracted widespread attention following reports that about N1.32 billion was allocated to the agency in the federal budget despite the Federal Government’s position that it was never legally established.
