The Head of the Civil Service (HoS) of the Federation, Mrs Esther Didi Walson-Jack, has admitted before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged illegal creation of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) and the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) that her office failed to carry out adequate due diligence before approving requests from the purported agency.
The committee also said it uncovered what it described as a network of fake documents allegedly used to secure government approvals, including recruitment waivers and administrative processes.
Appearing before the committee on Wednesday, Walson-Jack acknowledged that her office relied on documents later discovered to be fake when granting an authorised establishment and recruitment waiver to the agency.
“We now, having seen all the facts and observed all the documents, concede that we ought to have carried out more due diligence in discharge of the duties of the office in issuing an authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver to the PEAC/PFIPC,” she said.
She explained that officials of the purported agency appeared before her office during the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence, presenting themselves as representatives of a newly established federal agency. According to her, they submitted what appeared to be an Establishment Act and a letter appointing a Director-General.
The HoS said newly created agencies seeking recruitment approval are required to present an enabling Act, the appointment letter of the chief executive and other supporting documents before an authorised establishment and provisional recruitment waiver are granted.
According to her, the office processed the request based on the documents presented.
“In over almost a century of the Federal Civil Service, we have never encountered a situation like the current one. Criminals always try to be a step ahead of law enforcement,” she said.
Under questioning, Walson-Jack admitted that the Establishment Act submitted by the purported agency was not authentic.
“I requested to see the documents myself and I saw that the Establishment Act was not really an authentic Act. I have almost 30 years of legal practice experience and immediately I saw it, I knew it was not,” she said.
She also said she observed differences between the signatures on the appointment letter purportedly issued by the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President and genuine official correspondence.
“I’m not a forensic expert, but I can clearly see that the signatures are not the same,” she stated.
The committee chairman disclosed that forensic analysis conducted by the Nigeria Police confirmed the signatures were entirely different.
“The police forensic department has already analysed the signatures and confirmed that those signatures are not the same. In fact, according to them, there was not even an attempt to imitate the signature,” the chairman said.
He added that investigations established that both the appointment letter and the purported Establishment Act were fake.
“You have clearly stated that you acted on false documents. You have now established, just like we have, that the letter of appointment of the so-called DG is not only forged, it is fake.
“If something is forged, there will be an attempt to imitate the signature. But in this case, the signatures are completely different. So I will not call it forged; I will say it is fake,” the chairman declared.
The committee also alleged that the purported Establishment Act lacked the mandatory features of a valid Act of the National Assembly.
“Our Acts have citation numbers, Supreme Court numbers, Gazette numbers and Gazette titles. The Act presented here has none of those features,” the chairman said.
Despite admitting lapses, Walson-Jack insisted her office acted in line with established procedures based on the documents submitted.
“Everything was done in accordance with the practice in the office. Out of the 88 ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, processed, we are really surprised that we were unable to detect that PEAC/PFIPC had actually given us a false Establishment Act and what has now been proved to be a false letter of appointment,” she said.
She also pledged to strengthen internal processes to prevent a recurrence.
“We take full responsibility and we will definitely review our processes to make them more fraud-proof,” she added.
The committee also questioned officials from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation over the issuance of an administrative code to the purported agency.
A former Director of Consolidation Account and Director of Federal Projects, Mr Joshua Patmi Luka, said his office received what appeared to be an official request from the State House for an administrative code.
