The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee investigating the alleged Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) has summoned the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, to appear before it over the activities of the controversial council.
The summons followed the absence of several ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) at the committee’s investigative hearing, a development lawmakers described as a setback to efforts to uncover how the alleged unestablished agency operated within government circles.
Chairman of the committee, Rep. Yusuf Gagdi, criticised the failure of key government officials to honour the invitation, warning that continued non-compliance could attract constitutional sanctions.
The committee directed the Foreign Affairs Minister to appear in person, while also inviting the National Security Adviser to explain what actions his office took after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reportedly alerted it to irregularities surrounding the PFIPC in 2025.
According to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dunoma Umar Ahmed, the ministry declined multiple requests from the alleged council to collaborate on an investment summit after detecting discrepancies in its documents. He disclosed that the ministry subsequently wrote to the Office of the National Security Adviser seeking clarification on the council’s status.
The NSA’s office reportedly responded that inquiries with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President confirmed that the purported agency had no legal recognition within the Federal Government.
Lawmakers questioned how the alleged council was still able to organise engagements involving foreign diplomats despite the security alert and the ministry’s reservations.
“Our responsibility is to make laws. Then a strange agency that is supposed to do our function is introduced to us. We notice discrepancies, report to the NSA, and the NSA responds that the agency is illegal, then all of a sudden we see the agency engaging foreign nationals in diplomatic functions,” Gagdi said.
“I think this is a big insult on the Nigerian people.”
The committee gave defaulting MDAs a final opportunity to comply with its summons, warning that any institution that fails to appear with the requested officials and documents would face all constitutional and statutory sanctions available to the House of Representatives for obstructing its investigation. The probe forms part of wider efforts to determine how the alleged PFIPC gained apparent legitimacy despite earlier warnings from government agencies.
