A former Permanent Secretary of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Goke Adeboroye, has blamed weaknesses within Nigeria’s public service bureaucracy for the alleged infiltration of the Federal Government by a fake presidential agency.
Adeboroye made the remarks during an appearance on Channels Television’s Inside Sources, aired on Sunday, following the discovery of the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The ICPC had said the purported agency operated with forged appointment letters and other official documents, stressing that it had no legal backing and that its alleged Director-General, Adeniyi Matthew, was never appointed by the Federal Government.
According to Adeboroye, the development exposed serious gaps in the government’s administrative and verification systems, particularly because the alleged agency was able to gain access to government facilities, budgetary provisions and official structures without being detected.
He questioned how an individual could allegedly enter the government system, secure an appointment, obtain office accommodation and access public funds without the relevant authorities raising concerns.
Adeboroye said the incident pointed to weaknesses in the bureaucratic structures supporting key offices within the Presidency, including the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service.
He argued that these institutions must have strong and competent bureaucracies capable of helping the President implement policies while also ensuring that fraudulent or unlawful directives do not pass through the system.
“The bureaucracy in those offices are not strong enough to be able to help the President drive the vision at the speed and with the efficiency that he wants,” he said.
The former Permanent Secretary also stressed the need for career civil servants to exercise professional judgment when dealing with directives from political office holders.
He said civil servants should not blindly execute instructions but must be able to question directives that conflict with established government procedures.
Adeboroye further said officials working within the Presidency should be sufficiently familiar with official communication channels to distinguish genuine presidential directives from fraudulent documents.
According to him, presidential approvals typically pass through established channels involving senior officials, including the Chief of Staff to the President, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and, where applicable, the Head of the Civil Service.
He recalled an incident from his time as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Interior involving a former governor who claimed to have obtained presidential approval for a diplomatic passport.
Adeboroye said the then Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, identified as Ude, did not immediately act on the request but first verified the purported approval.
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Although the approval was found to exist, the official reportedly sought further clarification from the President on whether the former governor, who had left office, should be issued a diplomatic passport.
Adeboroye described the episode as an example of how experience, institutional knowledge and proper verification can prevent abuse of government processes.
He added that similar verification could have been carried out in the PFIPC case through direct communication with the relevant government offices.
Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding the alleged fake agency has widened following the discovery of another body, the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office, during the ICPC investigation.
ICPC Chairman Musa Aliyu reportedly said the office had been allocated space within the premises of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation without presidential authorisation.
However, the National Coordinator and Executive Director of the project office, George Nwabueze, has rejected the allegation, insisting that the organisation is a legitimate project office under the OSGF and has operated for 16 years.
Nwabueze has also produced an appointment letter purportedly issued by the OSGF to support his claim of official authorisation.
The conflicting claims have continued to fuel questions over the legal status of the organisations, the authenticity of their official documents and how they were able to operate within government structures.