The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has informed the House of Representatives that two foreign currency accounts opened in connection with the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) were never activated and recorded no financial transactions.
Officials of the apex bank disclosed this on Monday while appearing before the House committee investigating allegations surrounding the establishment and operations of the PFIPC.
The House of Representatives is probing claims that the council was created and operated without a valid legal framework and outside the procedures required for the establishment of government agencies and institutions.
Representing the CBN Governor before the committee, Hamisu Abdullahi, a director at the bank, explained that the accounts were opened after the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) formally requested their creation.
According to him, the request was received on July 30, 2025, directing the CBN to open a United States dollar domiciliary account and a British pound sterling domiciliary account for the council.
Abdullahi told lawmakers that the CBN only opens accounts for government agencies after receiving official authorisation from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
However, he said the accounts never became operational because the council failed to submit the authorised signatories required to activate them.
As a result, both accounts remained dormant from the day they were opened.
The CBN official further told the committee that neither account received any deposits or processed withdrawals throughout their existence.
He added that the accounts also recorded no foreign exchange allocations, remittances, inflows or outflows, indicating that no financial activity took place before the investigation commenced.
