The Federal Government has fixed 4pm on Friday, 18 September 2026, as the deadline for ministries, departments and agencies to submit their 2027 personnel cost proposals, part of a wider effort to move the budget to the National Assembly earlier than in previous years and repair a spending cycle that has slipped badly out of step with the calendar.
The deadline is contained in the 2027 Personnel Costs Budget Call Circular, dated 4 September 2026 and signed by the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu. The circular does not give a firm date for presenting the full estimates to lawmakers, but it ties the exercise to a stated target of submitting the 2027 budget to the National Assembly by September 2026. According to the document, the draft 2027 to 2029 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper was concluded by July, in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, to make an early submission possible.
The urgency reflects a problem that has hardened since 2024, when fiscal years began to overlap. The N54.99 trillion 2025 budget was signed in February 2025. The N68.32 trillion 2026 budget was not assented to until 17 April 2026, taking effect from 1 April, and on the same day the President signed an amendment extending the capital component of the 2025 budget from 31 March to 30 June 2026. For part of this year, in effect, two budgets were running at once. The Budget Office has previously blamed underperformance partly on conflicting macroeconomic projections across agencies, and the Economic Management Team set up a committee to harmonise the assumptions used for oil prices, production, the exchange rate, inflation and non oil revenue. The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has said aligning those assumptions should narrow the gap between what is budgeted and what actually happens.
The most pointed change in this year’s circular is a new demand that every agency submit the law establishing it alongside its proposal. The circular warns that failure to do so may lead to rejection, stating that the step is meant to guard against “any entry of unestablished agencies in the FGN Budget.” That instruction is a direct response to a scandal that has embarrassed the government through much of 2026.
At the centre of it is the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, also referred to as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, which appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a provision of about N1.302 billion despite having no legal existence. The Presidency has disowned the body and described its self styled director general, Adeniyi Adeyemi, as never having been appointed. After President Bola Tinubu directed an investigation, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission found that the council had no backing in any Act of the National Assembly or executive order, and that the appointment letter used was forged. Adeyemi is facing an eight count charge bordering on forgery and impersonation. He has denied wrongdoing.
Crucially, the money was never spent. Appearing before a House of Representatives ad hoc committee on 24 July 2026, Yakubu said none of the N1.3 billion was released, telling lawmakers that “not one kobo was drawn.” He explained that an appropriation is only legal authority to make provision for spending, and that public funds can be released only after financial clearance, lawful recruitment, payroll enrolment, treasury warranting, cash backing and, for capital items, procurement approval. None of those conditions was met. The Budget Office also said it instructed the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant General not to process any payment linked to the council.
The probe has since widened. The ICPC uncovered a second body, the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office, operating inside the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation without authorisation. Its promoter was identified as George Buchi Nwabueze, said to have used several variations of his name. On 21 August, after the ICPC chairman, Musa Aliyu, briefed him, the President ordered Nwabueze’s immediate arrest and suspended three permanent secretaries, M.S. Danjuma, Nadungu Gagare and Richard Pheelangwah. Investigators had earlier flagged other fictitious entities linked to the same case.
The Country Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, said the episode pointed to deeper failings, describing the affair as “an indictment of the Nigerian government” and evidence of how weak public institutions had become. The organisation has called for an independent panel of inquiry.
Beyond the establishment law requirement, the circular tightens control over the payroll itself. Agencies are barred from budgeting salaries for anyone who is not a legitimate federal employee, and must validate their nominal rolls against the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System and the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System. No provision will be made for a serving worker not captured on either platform unless specifically exempted. Consultants, contract staff, corps members, industrial attaches, outsourced workers and non executive board members are excluded from nominal rolls, and the inclusion of outsourced staff is described as a willful fraudulent action to be reported to the authorities.
Agencies are also barred from budgeting for promotions expected during 2027. Only promotions already approved and in effect may be reflected, with the rest handled centrally through a service wide vote. The Budget Office says it will deploy a centralised Personnel Cost Monitoring Dashboard linked to IPPIS and GIFMIS, allowing real time comparison of actual spending against provisions, and has set 30 September 2026 as the deadline for agencies to submit third quarter personnel performance reports. Additional checks target the health and education sectors, including a bar on capturing the same lecturer or consultant across multiple institutions.
Whether the September submission target holds, and whether the new controls actually keep fictitious bodies out of the 2027 estimates, will only become clear once the figures reach the National Assembly.