The Federal Government has introduced stricter controls on payroll management across ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, setting September 18, 2026, as the deadline for submission of their 2027 personnel budget proposals.
The directive was contained in the 2027 Federal Government Personnel Costs Budget Call Circular, dated September 4, 2026, and signed by the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu.
The government is expected to submit the 2027 budget proposal to the National Assembly in September, as it seeks to restore a more consistent budget cycle and tackle recurring delays in budget execution.
According to the circular, all MDAs are required to submit both hard and electronic copies of their 2027 personnel budget proposals, together with relevant supporting information, by 4pm on Friday, September 18, 2026.
Under the revised guidelines, MDAs must attach the laws establishing their respective agencies to their budget submissions. The Budget Office warned that proposals from agencies unable to provide valid evidence of their legal establishment could be rejected.
The requirement follows concerns surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, which received an allocation of about N1.3 billion in the 2026 budget despite questions about its legal foundation.
The House of Representatives had investigated the matter, while President Bola Tinubu subsequently directed a forensic investigation into the procedures and internal controls that enabled questionable agencies to secure budgetary allocations.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, also identified two other agencies it said lacked proper legal backing. The commission stated that one of them, the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, had neither an Act nor an executive order establishing it, while its purported Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi, was not appointed by the Federal Government.
The new circular also places additional restrictions on personnel expenditure, requiring MDAs to ensure that salaries and allowances are budgeted only for legitimate federal government employees.
They are expected to reconcile and validate their payroll records with the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS, and the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, GIFMIS.
It also prohibits MDAs from making personnel provisions for serving federal employees who are not captured on either IPPIS or GIFMIS, unless the affected employees have been granted specific exemptions.
The government further directed that personnel budgets should contain only approved salary structures and allowances, with MDAs required to confirm employees’ grade levels, steps and annual increments.
MDAs have also been instructed not to make provisions for promotions that are merely expected to take place in 2027. Only promotions that have already been approved and taken effect are to be captured in the 2027 personnel budget.
Promotions occurring during the year are to be funded centrally through the Service-Wide Vote and subsequently captured in the 2028 budget.
The Federal Government equally cautioned MDAs against unauthorised recruitment, directing them to secure the necessary financial clearances, appointment letters and recruitment waivers before employing new staff.
Consultants, contract workers, NYSC members, industrial trainees, outsourced service providers and other temporary personnel are excluded from nominal rolls. The circular warned that adding outsourced workers to the government payroll would amount to a deliberate fraudulent act.
As part of efforts to improve oversight, the government said a centralised Personnel Cost Monitoring Dashboard would be integrated with IPPIS and GIFMIS. The system will facilitate real-time comparisons between actual personnel expenditure and approved budgetary provisions.
MDAs are also expected to submit their third-quarter 2026 personnel budget performance reports by September 30.
Ministers, chief executives and accounting officers have been directed to certify the accuracy and completeness of their respective personnel budget submissions.
The measures form part of the Federal Government’s broader strategy to tighten control over personnel expenditure, curb payroll-related fraud and ensure that public funds are directed only to legally recognised agencies and genuine government employees.
