The Federal Government has tightened the rules on imprest reimbursement, directing that all requests for the reimbursement of imprest shall not exceed twice in a quarter.

This is contained in a circular issued by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation announcing that the Minister of Finance has signed the Annual General Imprest Warrant (AGIW) for the year 2026.

The document which was signed by the Accountant General, Dr Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, also announced the limit of reimbursable imprest for different categories of officers.

According to the circular, ministers now have an imprest limit of N700,000, permanent secretaries/director general, N500,000, directors/heads of department, N300,000, while heads of formations in each state and any other authrised imprest holder will have a limit of N100,000.

“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 said.

It is believed that the decision by the federal government to tighten the rules follows a 308 per cent surge in imprest claims, reaching N2.27 billion disbursed in 2024 from N556.3 million in 2023. There were alleged widespread abuse, failure to retire funds, and duplication of payments.

“All imprest holders shall adhere strictly to the provision of the Financial Regulations nos. 1005 to 1012 in maintaining proper account of their imprest,” it said.

It also noted that all self-accounting ministries, extra-ministerial offices and agencies, including all arms of government are required to submit to the office of the Accountant General of the Federation within 30 days, the particulars of the vouchers with which the imprest with respect to 2025 were retired, and the list of entitled imprest holder and their locations for year 2026.

It also directed imprest holders to open an operational bank account for the management of imprest in compliance with the e-payment policy.

It also directed all accounting officers and officers controlling expenditure to ensure that all local procurement of stores and services, costing above N1 million are made only through the award of contracts except as otherwise provided by the Public Procurement Act 2007.