FG Slashes Cabinet Imprest to Enforce Fiscal Discipline
The Federal Government has slashed the maximum reimbursable imprest for ministers to 700,000 naira as part of a severe fiscal tightening campaign. This cash ceiling represents a key pillar of a new regulatory strategy designed to curb institutional waste across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. The sharp reduction appeared in the 2026 Annual General Imprest Warrant signed by the newly appointed Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele. A corresponding Federal Treasury Circular issued by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation directed all accounting officers to implement the limits immediately. The administration intends to strip away structural redundancies within the federal public service.
The sweeping financial directive establishes rigid spending baselines for all levels of senior government personnel. While ministers face a strict 700,000 naira cap, permanent secretaries and directors-general must operate within a 500,000 naira limit. Lower-tier directors and substantive heads of departments will have their operational cash advances capped at 300,000 naira. Regional heads of formations stationed across the states must manage with a ceiling of just 100,000 naira. This tiered framework aims to standardize discretionary spending across the three arms of government. Top bureaucrats can no longer exploit vague institutional provisions to access excessive state cash.
The Treasury has also placed strict boundaries on how frequently civil servants can replenish these operational funds. Accounting departments can now process standing imprest reimbursements only once per quarter under normal operating conditions. The circular permits a maximum of two replenishments per quarter only under exceptionally urgent circumstances. Imprest holders must also open and operate dedicated operational bank accounts to ensure comprehensive electronic tracking. This rule aligns with the broader federal electronic payment policy to eliminate unvouched cash transactions. Government agencies must adapt quickly to this highly restricted cash-flow architecture.
Accountant-General Shamseldeen Ogunjimi warned that any operational breaches will trigger severe institutional penalties. The Treasury will immediately withdraw the right to issue advances from any accounting officer who violates the new limits. The Office of the Accountant-General sent the explicit warning directly to the Chief of Staff to the President, all service chiefs, and the Inspector-General of Police. The chairmen of federal commissions and anti-corruption agencies also received the directive. The government wants to establish an unyielding compliance culture before the next budget cycle begins. Executive oversight teams will conduct random compliance audits to enforce the rules.
This aggressive fiscal intervention addresses decades of systemic vulnerability regarding the misuse of public funds. Successive national audit reports have routinely exposed severe documentation lapses, delayed retirements of advances, and blatant baseline inflation. Previous administrations tried to expand electronic payment systems and the Treasury Single Account with mixed structural success. By shrinking the actual volume of deployable cash, the current economic team hopes to choke off leakages at the source. This policy signals a significant shift in strategy for a presidency facing intense public demands for governance cost reductions.
The success of the cost-cutting measure rests entirely on the consistency of internal institutional enforcement. Skeptics argue that clever bureaucrats frequently invent alternative expenditure codes to bypass rigid cash-advance ceilings. However, the Finance Ministry insists that electronic tracking and strict quarterly limits will make such manipulation impossible. The policy forces public officials to justify every kobo through rigorous supporting documentation before unlocking fresh approvals. For a cabinet accustomed to loose operational cushions, the era of fluid cash access has effectively closed. The state expects these combined limits to preserve billions for critical capital infrastructure.