The senior special assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Special Duties, Tunde Rahman, has called for sweeping institutional reforms in the wake of the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal, warning that the arrest of the alleged mastermind, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, would not be enough to address the systemic failures exposed by the incident.

Rahman said while Adeyemi should answer for the allegations against him, focusing solely on his prosecution would amount to “treating malaria with paracetamol,” arguing that the scandal revealed deep weaknesses in Nigeria’s budgeting, appointment and banking systems.

According to him, the federal government should urgently implement four key reforms to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

He proposed the enactment of a budget integrity law to ensure that no allocation appears in the Appropriation Act without scrutiny by the relevant National Assembly committee and publication of the sponsoring ministry, department or agency, legal backing and staff list.

He also recommended that any “ghost agency” discovered in the budget should automatically trigger an audit by the Office of the Auditor-General.

Rahman further advocated for the creation of a public appointment verification portal to be managed by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, where all federal appointment letters would be logged and verified.

Under the proposal, MDAs would be required to reject physical appointment letters lacking a portal verification code, making forged documents easier to detect.

The presidential aide also called for tighter access control within the Federal Secretariat, including a forensic audit of offices, official signage and office allocations.

He said any office allocated over the past three years without the approval of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation or the Head of the Civil Service should be revoked and investigated.

On financial oversight, Rahman urged the Central Bank of Nigeria and commercial banks to explain how accounts were allegedly opened for PFIPC and 34 other purported government agencies.

He recommended that the Bank Verification Number database be crosschecked with the Corporate Affairs Commission records before any government-related account is activated.

“Arresting Adeyemi so he can answer for his serious misdeeds is necessary. However, that would not be sufficient. Stopping there would be akin to treating malaria with paracetamol,” he said.

“In the final analysis, Prince Adeyemi allegedly gamed the system. But systems are gamed because they are weak. The PFIPC scandal is a stress test, and the system failed at three points: budget, appointment, and banking.”

The Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council scandal triggered nationwide controversy after it appeared as a beneficiary in the 2026 Appropriation Act despite the Presidency maintaining that no such agency exists within the Federal Government.

The controversy erupted after the National Assembly passed the 2026 budget containing allocations to the council, prompting questions over how an agency later disowned by the Presidency made its way into the appropriation process.

The Presidency subsequently distanced itself from the council, insisting that President Tinubu neither approved its establishment nor appointed anyone to head it.

Following the development, the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, petitioned security agencies over the alleged impersonation of the Presidency and the use of documents purportedly linked to the agency, leading to investigations by the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies.

Adeyemi was later arrested and arraigned on allegations bordering on forgery, impersonation and related offences, although he has consistently maintained his innocence, insisting that all documents in his possession were legitimately obtained.

Amid growing public outrage, President Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate how the council was inserted into the 2026 Appropriation Act despite not being recognised by the Federal Government.

The President also ordered that everyone found culpable in the alleged budget insertion be identified and prosecuted in accordance with the law.