The Operations Of Fake Agencies And The Call For Civil Service Reform -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

A few weeks ago the news of the existence of a fake agency operating with name Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) surfaced in the Nigeria media space and later following public outcry, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission was said to have investigated the agency promoted by one Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi. And after thirty days of investigation the ICPC submitted the interim report of its findings. In the report, it was revealed that there are other fake agencies operating in the system within the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government Federation, something many suspected was an attempt to exonerate Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to the President who was fingered as the principal figure behind the creation of the PFIPC) by the embattled Prince Adeyemi.

In a swift reaction to the report submitted, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu sacked three permanent secretaries: M.S. Danjuma, Nadungu Gagare, and Richard P. Pheelangwah suspected to be involved in the operations of the fake agencies and ordered the arrest of Mr. George Nwabueze, the promoter of one of the phony agency, known as the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office, which was said to be operating within the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and has representatives across different states of the federation. And following the Federal Executive Council’s resolution on August 19, 2026, in response to findings by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on fake agencies, ghost workers, and other control failures, the President gave a directive for the forensic audit of the federal government institutions.

The president directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, to oversee and coordinate a comprehensive forensic audit of Federal systems. According to the presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, in a press statement, revealed that the audit would include a review of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), federal government agencies, and their administration and internal controls.

Clearly all of that are reactionary measures. The existence of fake agencies shows the how porous our administrative system is. It illustrates the rot and the corruption in the Nigeria public service. It shows a decadent system that lacks cohesion and effective control mechanisms. The operations of fake agencies calls for effective monitoring and internal control system that will monitor and coordinate inter-agencies activities and ensure compliance to service rules and report exception for appropriate action.

But, beyond that, it calls for a serious civil service reform. Nigeria governments have always talked about this reform but never take it serious. In this regard, there is the need to visit the Oronsaye Committee Report. In 2011, the Goodluck Jonathan government set up a presidential committee for civil service reform headed by Stephen Oronsaye, a former Head of Service of the Federation. In April, 2012 the committee submitted its 800-page report entitled: “Report on the Restructuring and Rationalization of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions, and Agencies”. The public service reform blueprint formally submitted was aimed at cutting the cost of governance and reducing bureaucratic duplication in Nigeria. At the time of compilation, the committee evaluated 541 statutory and non-statutory federal bodies. It recommended the reducing of statutory agencies from 263 to 161, abolishing or scrapping of 38 government agencies entirely, merging 52 overlapping agencies, reversing 14 agencies back into departments within the existing ministries, consolidating the major anti-corruption bodies: the EFCC, ICPC and Code of Conduct Bureau and to discontinue the funding of professional bodies and councils by the government to free up funds for development projects.

Unfortunately, as good as the report is, it is gathering dust in the government archives now. The Jonathan Administration that set up the committee hadn’t time to implement its recommendations before it was voted out. In 2020, Mohammadu Buhari set up the Amal Pepple and Ebele Okeke committees to review the Oronsaye Committee Report and generate white papers and ordered implementation. But it was never done. In 2024, Tinubu was said to have ordered full implementation and gave an 8-member committee a 12-week deadline for that. Again, as in the previous administration, there was no implementation. And instead Tinubu created additional agencies like the Ministry of Livestock Resources and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) contrary to the recommendations of the Report.

Undoubtedly, it is wrong to state that the existence of the fake agencies as have surfaced in the current administration has made nonsense of the so-called Tinubu reforms. Critics believe that if Tinubu is interested in genuine reform, he will start from civil service reform and other measures that would reduce cost of governance. But what we see in TInubu’s government is the opposite – corruption, profligacy, lack of transparency and fiscal rascality. Nigeria need genuine reform, not phantom reform.

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com
An actress, social activist, politician

London, UK