2027 Budget: FG Tightens Payroll Rules For MDAs, Sets September 18 Deadline

The federal government has tightened payroll rules for ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and given them until September 18, 2026, to submit their 2027 personnel budget proposals.

The directive is contained in the 2027 Federal Government Personnel Costs Budget Call Circular dated September 4, 2026, signed by the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu.

The government plans to present the 2027 budget proposal to the National Assembly in September as part of efforts to return the country to a more predictable budget cycle and address persistent delays in budget implementation.

The circular directed all MDAs to submit hard and soft copies of their 2027 personnel budget proposals and accompanying information by 4pm on Friday, September 18, 2026.

Under the new rules, MDAs are required to submit the laws establishing them alongside their budget proposals. The Budget Office warned that proposals from agencies unable to provide evidence of their legal establishment could be rejected.

The requirement follows concerns over the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, which was allocated about N1.3 billion in the 2026 budget despite questions over its legal status. The House of Representatives had investigated the matter, while President Bola Tinubu ordered a forensic investigation into the processes and internal controls that allowed questionable agencies to receive budgetary allocations.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), also uncovered two additional agencies it described as having no proper legal backing. The ICPC said one of them, the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, had no Act or executive order establishing it, while its purported Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi, was never appointed by the federal government.

The circular also introduced tighter controls on personnel spending, directing MDAs to ensure that salaries and allowances are provided only for legitimate federal government employees. MDAs are required to validate their payrolls against the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System and the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System.

It further barred MDAs from making personnel provisions for serving federal employees who are not captured on IPPIS or GIFMIS, except where specific exemptions have been approved.

The government also directed that only approved salary structures and allowances should be included in personnel budgets, while MDAs must verify employees’ grade levels, steps and annual increments.

MDAs were barred from budgeting for promotions that are only anticipated in 2027. Only promotions already approved and effective are to be reflected in the 2027 personnel budget, while promotions during the year are to be handled centrally through the Service-Wide Vote and reflected in the 2028 budget.

The government also warned against unauthorised recruitment, directing MDAs to obtain the required financial clearances, appointment letters and recruitment waivers before engaging new personnel.

Consultants, contract staff, NYSC members, industrial trainees, outsourced service providers and other non-permanent workers are not to be included in nominal rolls. The circular warned that placing outsourced workers on government payroll would be treated as a deliberate fraudulent action.

To strengthen monitoring, the federal government said a centralised Personnel Cost Monitoring Dashboard would be linked to IPPIS and GIFMIS to allow real-time comparison of actual personnel expenditure with budgeted provisions.

MDAs are also required to submit their third-quarter 2026 personnel budget performance reports by September 30, while ministers, chief executives and accounting officers must certify the accuracy of their personnel budget submissions.

The measures are part of broader efforts by the government to strengthen personnel expenditure controls, prevent payroll fraud and ensure that public funds are allocated only to legally established agencies and genuine government employees.