The National Coordinator and Executive Director, National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office, George Nwabueze, has disputed allegations of running a ‘fake agency’ in the country.
Nwabueze told our correspondent yesterday that he was head of an office that was placed under the supervision of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
The office, he said, had been in operation for 16 years, writes Sunday PUNCH.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related crimes Commission had on Friday claimed the President ordered the arrest of Nwabueze for running and promoting the outfit, which it classified as a phoney government institution.
The ICPC said the accused was running it with the help of top public servants in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
But reacting to our correspondent, the controversial executive director stated, “Made in Nigeria Special Project Office is a project office in the OSGF. We do not know where the fraudulent agency came from. “A program that has been in the SGF’s office since 16 July 2010 was only discovered yesterday (Friday). Sixteen years after? Nigeria is a hilarious country.
This was disclosed to our correspondent via the social media platform, LinkedIn, where he had earlier shared his appointment letter to debunk ICPC’s claim of illegality, Nwabueze said.
The letter was dated October 3, 2025 and was reportedly signed by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
It was designated OSGF/MIN/59310/11/205 and was signed by the Permanent Secretary, Office of Political and Economic Affairs, Nadungu Gagare.
He wrote a letter to Hon. George Buchi Nwabueze, National Coordinator, Made in Nigeria Project Office, OSGF, Three Arms Zone, Abuja informing him that he had been approved as the National Coordinator/Executive Director of the Made in Nigeria Project Office, OSGF.
The document said the appointment was for a renewable five-year tenure starting from July 2025.
“I have been directed to formally convey the approval of your appointment as National Coordinator/Executive Director of the Made in Nigeria Project Office under the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,” the letter said.
It stated that the nomination follows “a rigorous assessment of your commitment, participation and capacity in delivering on the purpose of the Special Project Office.
The document said Nwabueze was also to supervise and develop programs, projects and policies, supervise regional and state coordinators in all the 36 states, and organises exhibitions, trade expos, economic summits and other promotional initiatives aimed at promoting indigenous products and services.
It further said that the project would be conducted on a temporary basis from Room B53, Ground Floor, at the OSGF facility.
“This appointment is at the pleasure of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and in line with the objectives of the Made in Nigeria initiative under the Renewed Hope Agenda,” the letter said.
But the correspondent’s efforts to get Nwabueze to comment further on the topic proved unsuccessful as he declined to make any statement.
Request for special status
Also, another document Nwabueze released on Linkedin yesterday showed that his office asked to be accorded the designation of a Special Project.
The letter dated April 17, 2025 was signed by Gagare, Permanent Secretary, Political and Economic Affairs Office and addressed to Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
It was cited PS-PEAO/2025/008/4.
In a paper entitled, ‘A proposal for the Made-in-Nigeria Project to be given Special Project status’, it said the program had been in operation for almost five years and has promoted Nigerian-made products and services both locally and internationally.
The initiative had held economic fora and trade shows in many parts of the world and had made excellent contributions to the Nigerian economy especially in the area of foreign direct investment.
Some of the benefits cited in the document of providing the project with special status included greater employment possibilities, economic growth and elimination of poverty.
The proposal also said the program will help boost Gross Domestic Product growth through supporting local industries and promoting domestic output.
The project, it said, would also help reduce imports by encouraging Nigerians to patronise locally created products, thus decreasing dependence on imported goods, conserving foreign currencies and improving the country’s trade balance.
The letter noted that the program was in line with the federal government’s drive to diversify the economy, reduce dependence on crude oil and grow the non-oil sector.
The Permanent Secretary later called on the SGF to take note that the special status will improve the credibility and performance of the project and enable it to accomplish its mandate and duties.
The plan, however, required the activities of the project to be assessed and operational procedures devised.
A bogus agency?
The ICPC chairman, Dr Musa Aliyu, SAN, had said that the National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office was one of the outfits discovered during the commission’s probe into the alleged phoney Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.
The PFIPC and what he characterised as procedural deficiencies in the public sector. Aliyu, briefing State House media in Abuja, said investigators uncovered the office during their investigations.
He said the office was given space in the OSGF premises without presidential approval.
He named the outfit’s promoter as Prince George Buchi Nwabueze, and alleged that the said promoter operated with numerous variants of his name and had the assistance of some prominent public workers in the OSGF.
The outfit was part of the structures unveiled during the ICPC investigation into the suspected PFIPC, the ICPC said.
But papers supplied by Nwabueze appear to contradict the claim that the project office was not officially backed.
One of the papers posted on the organisation’s LinkedIn site detailed a stakeholders engagement in Nasarawa State featuring Governor Abdullahi Sule.
The newspaper quoted the governor as stating the state has adopted the federal government’s Made-in-Nigeria effort and included it in its 2026 budget.
“We have domesticated this federal government initiative for us in Nasarawa State, since we are solemnly committed to the promotion of local contents and value for resources that abound in our dear state,” Sule was reported as saying.
“I am happy to announce to you that we domesticated this project and we give special attention to its operationalisation by including it in our 2026 budget,” he added.
The report also quoted the National Coordinator of the Made in Nigeria Project as saying that the program was domiciled in the OSGF and saddled with the promotion of the national brand.
Nwabueze also said a decision has been taken to site a National Brand Processing and Packaging Center in Nasarawa State.
The organisation’s website also listed “Nwabueze George” as “Executive Director, National Coordinator”, linking the post to the person named in the ICPC inquiry.
An examination of the organisation’s website shows a structure with national, zonal and state coordinators.
At the national level, the organization named Dr Bassey B. Unaowo as Special Assistant to the Permanent Secretary on Political and Economic Affairs in the OSGF while Dr Hajara Njidda Amoni was designated as Director, National Administration.
The organization also appointed zonal directors and coordinators in several states.
It had social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, X and LinkedIn at @pmainpro.
Office closed for months: OSGF official
However, an OSGF staff told our correspondent that the office had been closed for months.
“It was not working as an agency but I know it was under investigation… “The office was shut down months ago,” the person stated.
The development raises issues about the status of the project office, in particular contradicting assertions concerning its authorisation and relationship with the OSGF.
The ICPC claims that the office was illegally assigned space within the OSGF without presidential approval. But records produced by Nwabueze reveal that he had an appointment letter allegedly issued by the OSGF designating him to head the project office.
The OSGF spokesman, Christopher Ugwuegbulam, when approached, told our correspondent to submit a letter to his office for a response.
Attempts to reach the ICPC spokesman, John Odey, were unsuccessful at the time of filing the article, since calls to his number showed that it was unreachable.
It was understood police had not yet been properly told on the suspect.
Credible sources in the police force informed our correspondent that there would be a manhunt but only after a formal briefing on the topic.
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