The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has admitted that her office failed to properly verify documents submitted by the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Fiscal Policy and International Coordination Programme (PEAC/PFICP) before approving its establishment and recruitment process.
She made the admission while answering questions from the House of Representatives committee investigating the controversial recruitment exercise.
Admission Before Lawmakers
Addressing the committee, Walson-Jack said her office received a letter of appointment and what was presented as the Establishment Act for the PEAC/PFICP.
She explained that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service relied on those documents and its interactions with representatives of the organisation.
Subsequently, she issued an authorised establishment and later granted a recruitment waiver.
She said:
“What we are saying is that my office received the letter of appointment and the Establishment Act.
“And based on those documents and also based on the interaction with the representatives of the PEAC and PFICP, they went on to issue the authorized establishment and later the recruitment waiver.
“We now, having seen all the facts and observed all the documents, concede that we ought to have carried out more due diligence in the discharge of the duties of the office in issuing an authorized establishment and a recruitment waiver to the PEAC/PFICP.
“Mr. Chairman, if I may explain further, we do know that the PEAC used to exist as an ad hoc organization on its own.
“And the documents that were presented had PEAC/PFICP.
“However, like I said, due diligence may have detected whether those documents were actually authentic.”
Office Concedes Due Diligence Lapse
The Head of Service acknowledged that her office should have conducted more thorough checks before granting approval.
She said proper verification could have established whether the documents presented by the organisation were authentic.
Her admission is the first public acknowledgment by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service that it failed to carry out sufficient due diligence before authorising the establishment and recruitment process.
House Probe Continues
The House of Representatives is investigating the circumstances surrounding the recruitment exercise and the legal status of the PEAC/PFICP.
The committee is examining whether due process was followed in creating the office, granting recruitment waivers, and employing personnel under the programme.
Lawmakers are also seeking to determine whether government institutions relied on documents that were not properly authenticated.
PFICP Controversy
The PFICP has remained at the centre of controversy over allegations that it was established and staffed without complying with the constitutional and statutory procedures governing the creation of federal government agencies.
The controversy has drawn national attention because of the alleged roles played by President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the head of the PFICP, Adeyemi, in the programme’s establishment and recruitment process.
Questions have been raised over the legal basis for the programme, the issuance of recruitment waivers, and the authenticity of documents presented to government agencies.
The House committee’s investigation is expected to determine whether public institutions were misled into granting approvals and whether due process was circumvented in the recruitment exercise.
Walson-Jack’s admission that her office failed to conduct adequate due diligence is expected to be a key aspect of the committee’s final findings as the investigation into the PFICP controversy continues.
