The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, had admitted that her office failed to carry out adequate due diligence before granting key approvals to the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
NEWSNGR reports that she admitted the error when she appeared before the House of Representatives hearing on the PFIPC scandal.
Walson-Jack acknowledged that her office relied on documents that have now been found to be false before approving an authorised establishment and recruitment waiver for the agency.
Appearing before the committee, chaired by the lawmaker representing Kanke/Kanam/Pankshin Federal Constituency of Plateau State, Yusuf Gagdi, she conceded that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation acted on documents which had now been established to be false.
“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 authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver to the PEAC/PFIPC,” she told the panel
She explained that officials of the purported agency attended the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence, presenting themselves as representatives of a newly established federal agency and tendering what appeared to be an Establishment Act alongside a letter appointing a Director-General.
According to her, existing civil service procedures require newly established agencies seeking to recruit staff to submit an enabling Act, the appointment letter of the chief executive and other relevant documents before an authorised establishment and provisional recruitment waiver are granted.
She said her office processed the request based on the documents presented, describing the incident as unprecedented.
“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.
However, when subjected to further questioning, Walson-Jack admitted that the supposed Establishment Act was clearly not genuine.
“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 real,” she stated.
She also questioned the authenticity of the letter purportedly issued by the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President appointing the alleged Director-General.
When asked to compare the different documents signed by Femi Gbajabiamila to the letter appointing Adeyemi, the Head of Service admitted that the signature on the appointment letter was different from those on other documents.
“I’m not a forensic expert, but I can clearly see that the signatures are not the same,” she added.
Responding, Gagdi disclosed that forensic experts from the Nigeria Police Force had already confirmed that the signatures on the document did not match those of the genuine signatory.
“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,” Gagdi said.
He maintained 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,” Gagdi declared.
The committee further observed that the document presented as an Act of the National Assembly lacked the basic features of valid legislation.
“Our Acts have citation numbers, Supreme Court numbers, Gazette numbers and Gazette titles. The Act presented here has none of those features,” the chairman added.
Despite admitting shortcomings, Walson-Jack maintained that officials followed 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 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 added.
