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The Federal Government has introduced fresh measures aimed at tightening financial controls across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies by reducing the maximum reimbursable imprest available to ministers to ₦700,000. The new directive forms part of broader efforts to improve accountability, strengthen oversight, and ensure prudent management of public funds within government institutions. Under Nigeria’s financial regulations, imprest refers to an advance provided to public officials for official expenses, which must be properly documented and retired before additional funds can be accessed.
According to the revised guidelines, permanent secretaries and directors-general will now be entitled to a maximum imprest of ₦500,000, while directors and heads of departments will have a limit of ₦300,000. Heads of federal formations and other authorised officials are restricted to ₦100,000. The policy also stipulates that imprest reimbursements should ordinarily be processed once every quarter, with a second reimbursement within the same quarter permitted only under exceptional circumstances. In addition, all purchases and services valued above ₦1 million must go through the formal procurement process as required by the Public Procurement Act, 2007.
The government further directed all accounting officers to submit details of imprest expenditures from the previous fiscal year, including the identities and locations of entitled imprest holders. To improve transparency, every imprest holder will be required to maintain a dedicated operational bank account for managing the funds and to submit monthly reports detailing disbursements and retirements to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. Officials who fail to comply with the new rules risk losing their imprest privileges and could face disciplinary action.
The latest reform is part of the Federal Government’s wider public financial management agenda, which includes the expansion of electronic payment systems, stricter Treasury Single Account controls, and enhanced compliance mechanisms across MDAs. Fiscal experts say these measures are designed to reduce waste, curb the misuse of public resources, and improve confidence in the management of government finances at a time when the administration is pursuing broader economic reforms and cost-saving initiatives.
