The Federal Government has directed ministries, departments, and agencies to exclude consultants, corps members, and other non-permanent workers from their personnel payroll in the 2026 budget. This directive was contained in the 2026 Personnel Cost Budget Call Circular issued by the Budget Office of the Federation.

The circular, dated July 7, 2025, was signed by the Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, and addressed to ministers, service chiefs, permanent secretaries, and heads of parastatals. According to the circular, obtained by Sunday PUNCH on Saturday, only legitimate employees of the Federal Government are to be reflected in the personnel cost budget.

It warned that “any unauthorised payments from the personnel cost budget will attract appropriate sanctions.” The Budget Office stressed that corps members’ allowances would be centrally captured under the National Youth Service Corps budget, while any additional stipends payable by host MDAs must come from overhead provisions.

It noted, “Consultants, contract staff, youth corpers, industrial attaches, outsourced service providers, legionnaires and such like should not be included in MDAs’ nominal roll and/or Additional Information template as they are not permanent/pensionable staff of the Federal Government.”

The circular also barred ministries and agencies from budgeting for anticipatory promotions, insisting that only promotions duly approved and implemented should be reflected in the 2026 personnel budget.

To strengthen oversight, the government announced the introduction of a Personnel Cost Monitoring Dashboard linked to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System and the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System. The tool, it explained, would enable real-time tracking of personnel expenditure against budgetary provisions.

It added, “BOF will deploy a centralised Personnel Cost Monitoring Dashboard linked to IPPIS and GIFMIS. MDAs shall use this tool to compare actual expenditures with budget provisions in real-time.”

The circular further outlined strict deadlines, directing all MDAs to submit both hard and soft copies of their personnel budget proposals no later than July 15, 2025. They are also expected to submit a third-quarter personnel budget performance review report by September 30, 2025.

Yakubu noted that the 2026–2028 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper would be concluded in July in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007. This, he said, would facilitate the submission of the 2026 national budget to the National Assembly by September 2025.

Earlier, the Federal Government said it would release the long-awaited Budget Performance Report for 2024 by the end of September 2025, alongside outstanding reports for the first and second quarters of 2025, in a move aimed at restoring compliance with fiscal reporting requirements.

In a statement on Friday, the Budget Office of the Federation admitted that the publication of Budget Implementation Reports had been delayed since the second quarter of 2024, but assured Nigerians that the setback was temporary and would not derail its commitment to transparency and accountability.

The Office explained that the delays were caused by verification missions and reconciliations with implementing agencies, as well as Nigeria’s transition to a new extended fiscal framework.

“The delay should not be seen as backsliding, but as a reflection of the care taken to ensure accuracy and credibility in Nigeria’s fiscal reporting during an exceptional budget cycle,” the statement noted.

According to the Budget Office, issuing reports on the old budget cycle would have created confusion once policy discussions began pointing towards an extended horizon.

“Issuing reports on the old cycle, only to have them overtaken by a revised implementation framework, would have created conflicting datasets and misled stakeholders,” it said.

To address the gap, the Office announced a provisional plan. “By the end of September 2025, we will publish the full-year 2024 Budget Performance Report alongside the outstanding Q1–Q2 2025 reports, after which quarterly releases will resume on schedule,” it pledged. The Budget Office stressed that the Fiscal Responsibility Act mandates it to publish quarterly BIRs, and reaffirmed its statutory obligation. (Sunday PUNCH)