The Senate has declined a request to open its own investigation into the controversial N1.3bn budgetary allocation to the so‑called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIPC, opting instead to await the outcome of an ongoing probe by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ordered by President Bola Tinubu.

The move came after Senator Kawu Sumaila, representing Kano South, raised a point of order urging the upper chamber to examine how an agency the Presidency has publicly described as non‑existent secured a substantial allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act.

As Sumaila began to outline his motion, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who presided over the plenary, interrupted, ruling that such a matter should come before the chamber as a substantive motion rather than under a point of order.

Sumaila pressed on with his concerns, warning that the PFIPC controversy had cast a shadow over the integrity of the national budget process. He noted that despite the executive’s disavowal of the body, it was listed under budget code 0111062001 with an allocation of N1,302,978,000.

He broke down the figures as more than N800m for personnel costs, over N200m for overheads and upwards of N300m for capital expenditure. According to him, the inclusion of a purportedly non‑existent agency in the budget undermined public confidence and exposed serious gaps in legislative scrutiny.

The senator urged the chamber to mandate its Committees on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, and Appropriations to investigate how the allocation was proposed, vetted and approved. He also called for an inquiry into whether any funds had been released or spent and whether any bank accounts had been opened in connection with the budget line.

However, Senate leadership pushed back, arguing that a parallel legislative probe was unnecessary while the ICPC investigation was underway. Barau reminded lawmakers that the Presidency had already directed the anti‑graft agency to “fully” investigate how the PFIPC entry found its way into the budget.

He insisted the Senate should first receive and study the ICPC report before deciding on any further action, signalling a wait‑and‑see approach to a scandal that has raised fresh questions about Nigeria’s budget preparation and oversight systems.