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 pressmen, 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.

Sam Tunji