The Federal Government is considering extending the 2025 capital budget into 2026, following months of stalled project execution due to procurement delays, a slow implementation process, and the unexpected shutdown of its online cash planning portal.
This development emerged during a stakeholder meeting held in Abuja on Wednesday, hosted by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF). The meeting aimed to evaluate the implementation status and challenges of both the extended 2024 capital budget and the 2025 capital budget, which are operating under the Bottom-Up Cash Planning Policy (BUCPP).
Under the BUCPP system, all federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) must submit monthly cash projections on a digital platform before initiating contracts. These projections, detailing funding needs for specific projects, are consolidated by the OAGF and forwarded to the Ministry of Finance for approval. Only after approval are warrants—or legal spending authorizations—issued. Once returned to the OAGF, these warrants enable MDAs to upload their payment schedules, leading to direct fund disbursement to contractors or beneficiaries.
However, since May 2025, the platform has been inaccessible for uploading 2025-related cash plans. Without these uploads, warrants cannot be processed, and payments cannot proceed. A director-general from a health sector agency confirmed that MDAs have been unable to upload cash plans since May, effectively freezing budget implementation.
Speaking at the engagement, Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, emphasized the BUCPP’s purpose: to ensure fiscal discipline by mandating warrants before financial commitments are made. He accused several MDAs of violating procurement laws by awarding contracts based solely on budgetary allocations, regardless of available funds.
Ogunjimi criticized the practice of front-loading cash requests with staff-related payments and mobilisation fees while neglecting critical ongoing projects. He noted that this pattern had forced contractors to seek expensive loans and had derailed key government programs.
“No MDA is permitted to issue contracts or initiate capital payments on the GIFMIS platform without a warrant,” Ogunjimi stated. He added that warrants had already been issued for cash plans submitted in February and March for the extended 2024 budget, with final payments now being processed.
He reassured stakeholders that contracts already loaded onto the system with completed cash documentation would be honoured. “Any contract properly entered and documented before the portal shutdown is now a liability of the government, and we are committed to funding them,” he said.
However, Ogunjimi stressed that once the portal reopens, any new contracts must follow the revised procedures. He urged MDAs with active warrants to begin initiating payments immediately, confirming that sufficient funds were available in the Capital Development Fund.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, endorsed the strict enforcement of the warrant-first policy. He reiterated that no contract should be signed or financial commitment made without prior issuance of corresponding warrants and Authorities to Incur Expenditure (AIEs).
Edun emphasized that the BUCPP was designed to enhance fiscal responsibility by removing intermediaries from the payment process, ensuring that suppliers and contractors receive funds directly. While affirming that existing obligations would be fulfilled, he insisted that new spending must prioritize economic growth, job creation, and poverty alleviation.
Budget Office Director-General, Tanimu Yakubu, revealed another layer of budgetary pressure: under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2022, 60% of Nigeria’s gross oil revenues are now allocated to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (30%) and the Frontier Exploration Fund (30%). This significant revenue loss, coupled with poor oil prices and production shortfalls in the first half of 2025, has severely constrained the government’s fiscal capacity.
Yakubu explained that much of the 2025 revenue had already been diverted to fund the extended 2024 budget, necessitating the categorization of government projects into priority levels A, B, and C. He disclosed ongoing efforts to amend the PIA in the National Assembly to recover some of the diverted oil revenue.
He also revealed that not all borrowing under the 2024 National Borrowing Plan had materialized, though steps were underway to secure the remaining funds to close the extended 2024 capital budget without further dipping into the 2025 allocation.
Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, also supported the new framework. He said only projects backed by proper planning and adequate warranting would receive procurement certification going forward. He reminded MDAs that mobilisation fees were capped at 30% as per the Finance Act and encouraged open competitive bidding over selective tendering, which he said hindered funding.
Auditor-General of the Federation, Shaakaa Chira, warned MDAs that accounting officers would be held personally responsible for non-compliance. He committed to auditing for value, performance, and regulatory adherence, emphasizing that results matter more than the volume of spending.
Dr. Mohammed Shehu, Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, underscored the importance of increasing domestic revenue. He noted that monthly allocations to states had jumped from N700 billion in previous years to N1.7 trillion, due largely to reforms aimed at plugging fiscal leakages.
Steve Ehikhamenor, Director of Funds at OAGF, explained how capital expenditure from 2024 had been automatically rolled into the 2025 capital budget on February 28, increasing the funding burden for 2025. Under the updated BUCPP, MDAs must now submit monthly breakdowns of both legal and financial commitments, which are compiled by the OAGF for warrant issuance before payments are made directly to contractors.
Ehikhamenor confirmed that warrants had already been issued for cash plans submitted earlier in the year and urged MDAs with approved funding to proceed with disbursements immediately.
However, many MDAs expressed concern. Officials from the agriculture sector highlighted that rigid timelines for warrant issuance risked derailing seasonal projects like fertilizer distribution. Some participants also raised questions about the validity of award letters issued during the portal shutdown. Ogunjimi responded that only contracts already loaded on the platform with valid cash plans would be honoured.
A permanent secretary advocated issuing warrants ahead of time to allow MDAs to plan better and avoid further contractor pushback. One stakeholder also noted that long delays between budget passage and execution often left constituency projects outdated before they were even funded.
Yakubu later shared new “compliance guardrails” aimed at ensuring that budget execution aligns with National Assembly authorizations. These include matching warrants with rollover amounts, aligning quarterly cash plans with legislative priorities, and ensuring unspent 2024 funds remain tied to their original projects.
Despite the in-depth discussions, officials were unable to confirm when the portal would reopen for uploading 2025 cash plans. However, multiple senior participants acknowledged that extending the 2025 capital budget into 2026—just like the 2024 budget’s current extension to December 31, 2025—was now a likely scenario.
A senior official from a federal ministry, speaking anonymously, confirmed that full implementation of the 2025 budget has not yet begun, with most operations still running under the extended 2024 framework. This has caused widespread delays in payments to vendors and even affected some personnel-related expenditures.
Development economist Dr. Aliyu Ilias expressed concern over the recurring budget rollovers. In an interview, he warned that the practice could undermine the integrity of the budget process, lead to duplication of projects, and reduce transparency in government spending.