PFIPC: ‘Adeyemi Has Too Much Authentic Documentation’ – Bakare

Frontline activist, Bola Bakare, has said the controversy surrounding the self-acclaimed Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), Adeniyi Adeyemi, has exposed a long-standing systemic failure in Nigeria’s public service.

Naija News reports that Bakare, who spoke in an interview on Arise News, said the Federal Government and relevant agencies must conduct a deeper investigation into the scandal, particularly into the documents allegedly linked to Adeyemi’s operations.

According to him, the nature of the documents in Adeyemi’s possession raises serious questions about how official letters and approvals are issued across government institutions.

Bakare said, “The kind of operation this Adeyemi has, I’m not holding brief for him, but we are smart enough to know what is really happening. He has too much authentic documentation.”

The activist said the incident should force the country to confront the problem of unregulated and poorly monitored government agencies.

He noted that while Nigeria’s ministries were known and could be estimated, the number of agencies operating in the country remained unclear.

He further stated, “I’m happy this is happening so that we can put a stop to it. If you look in Nigeria, the ministries we have in Nigeria are just about 40 thereabout, but when it comes to agencies, honestly, nobody in Nigeria knows how many agencies we have, they’re in the hundreds.”

Bakare warned that if Adeyemi had remained silent, the PFIPC controversy could have been ignored or absorbed into the already complex web of government agencies.

The activist added, “If Adeyemi had been quiet, this would have joined the hundreds of those agencies, and then we would be worse for it, because as we speak, those agencies are making Nigeria uncomfortable.”

Agencies Affecting Ease Of Doing Business

Bakare further argued that many agencies, especially those operating at lower levels of governance, had become a burden to citizens and businesses.

He said discussions around ease of doing business often focused on top government officials, while little attention was paid to agencies that interact directly with the public.

“Because when you talk in terms of ease of doing business, most people are looking at the everyday, the top echelon of what is happening in governance, and nobody is looking at those lower levels of those agencies that have just simply that toga of governance that makes them go on the streets and make a mess of things. Those are factors we should look at closely,” he said.

Bakare said his major concern was not only Adeyemi’s role in the matter but the wider system that allegedly enabled such operations.

He alleged that some official documentation connected to the controversy appeared to have passed through recognised government offices, including the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

Bakare added, “That is why we have a lot of government agencies, Office of the SGF, Office of the AGF, Office of the Civil Service giving out authentic documentation because he has been able to pin the first person that gives out all those authentic letters.”

Bakare called on the government to use the scandal as an opportunity to clean up the public sector and strengthen verification processes across ministries, departments and agencies.

He said, “But my own grouse is, we have had this systemic failure with us for too long. And thank God we are having this, and I am calling on the government and all agencies concerned to look closely at this.”