FG Orders MDAs to Remove Consultants, Corps Members from 2026 Payroll

By Iyojo Ameh

The Federal Government has directed all ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) 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 (BOF). 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, only legitimate employees of the Federal Government are to be reflected in the personnel cost budget, while “any unauthorised payments from the personnel cost budget will attract appropriate sanctions.”

The BOF clarified that corps members’ allowances would be centrally captured under the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) budget. Any additional stipends payable by host MDAs, it added, must be funded from overhead provisions rather than personnel costs.

It further emphasized that, “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, directing that only duly approved and implemented promotions should be reflected in the 2026 personnel budget.

To improve transparency, the government announced the launch of a Personnel Cost Monitoring Dashboard, which will be linked to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS). The tool will enable real-time tracking of personnel expenditure against budgetary provisions.

“All MDAs are required to use the tool to compare actual expenditures with budget provisions in real-time,” the circular stated.

The BOF also set strict deadlines for compliance: MDAs must submit both hard and soft copies of their personnel budget proposals no later than July 15, 2025, and present a third-quarter personnel budget performance review report by September 30, 2025.