BREAKING: Federal Government Tightens Spending, Slashes Ministers’ Imprest to N700,000

The Federal Government has introduced measures to manage spending across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies by reducing reimbursable imprest limits and increasing oversight of public funds.

An imprest is a cash advance given to public officers for routine and urgent official expenses that do not require the standard government procurement process.

According to financial guidelines, these funds must be accounted for with supporting documents and retired before fresh approvals are given.

The new directives are contained in the 2026 Annual General Imprest Warrant signed by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele.

The details were shared in a Federal Treasury Circular dated June 3, 2026, and signed by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi.

It permits accounting officers across the three arms of government to approve funds to eligible holders under new spending limits.

Under the new rules, ministers have a maximum reimbursable imprest of N700,000. Permanent secretaries and directors-general are limited to N500,000, while directors and heads of departments are allocated N300,000.

Heads of formations in states and other authorized holders have a ceiling of N100,000.

The Office of the Accountant-General stated that the changes comply with Financial Regulation 1003 to ensure accountability in public resource management.

The government has also restricted how often an imprest can be replenished.

“The frequency of reimbursement of any standing imprest shall normally be once in a quarter and shall not exceed twice in a quarter where the need arises,” the circular stated.

Furthermore, accounting officers must ensure that any local procurement of stores and services costing above N1,000,000 is handled through contract awards rather than cash advances, in line with the Public Procurement Act.

To ensure compliance, all self-accounting ministries, departments, and agencies are required to submit returns to the Accountant-General within 30 days.

These returns must show how 2025 allocations were retired and list the approved holders for 2026 along with their locations.

Imprest holders are also expected to run dedicated bank accounts that align with the electronic payment policy, providing monthly reports on inflows and retirements to the treasury.

The Accountant-General noted that the Treasury Inspectorate Department will carry out routine checks during the financial year.

Financial officers who violate these regulations risk losing their right to issue imprests alongside other administrative sanctions.

The directive has been sent to senior officials, including the Chief of Staff to the President, ministers, service chiefs, and heads of anti-corruption agencies.