Civil Service Head Admits Approving Fake Documents in PFIPC Scandal

Didi Esther Walson-Jack, Nigeria's Head of the Civil Service, has acknowledged that her office processed and approved requests founded on documents that were later verified as fraudulent. The admission came during a House of Representatives investigative panel's second hearing into the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), both of which are now suspected to be illegitimate entities.

The House committee, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi, formally declared the appointment letter submitted by Adeniyi Adeyemi—who claims to be the council's Director-General—as counterfeit. Walson-Jack's testimony corroborated the committee's finding, confirming that the credentials presented by Adeyemi were not genuine government documents.

Walson-Jack further stated that her office took no action to deploy civil service staff to the PFIPC or provide it with government office space. She also indicated that no formal organisational structure for the council received official approval from her department, contradicting any suggestion that the agency operated with state backing or full recognition.

According to Walson-Jack's testimony, the purported establishment act cited by those behind the PFIPC was neither a genuine nor an authentic legislative instrument. The discrepancies in the appointment letters and supporting documents have formed the core of the House committee's investigation into how such entities could have presented themselves as legitimate government agencies without proper authorisation or institutional support from Nigeria's civil service apparatus.