By Daniel Peters in Abuja.
Local contractors under the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria have staged the second day of protest to demand payment for capital projects executed in 2024, amounting to about N4trn.
Speaking during the protest in Abuja on Thursday,the Secretary of the Association, Babatunde Seun, said the contractors had previously met with the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, and Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, over the delayed payments to no avail.
Seun further alleged that the AGF and the Minister had promised payments “within 48 hours” after their previous engagement, stating, however, that only five of its 5,000 members had received payments.
“They have not fulfilled their promise. The government has not fulfilled its promise. They have been paying us piecemeal. Last Wednesday, we had a meeting with the Accountant General of the Federation.
And he promised us that all finalised payments will drop into the beneficiaries’ accounts within 48 hours.
“From last Wednesday to today, it’s been about a week. They continue with lies. The Minister of Finance, we have been with him on various occasions.
He promised that they would pay the February and March warrants. They released their warrants without cash backing.
“Out of 5,000 people that we are expecting, we only had five people from our platform that received the money. Sir, we believe an elderly man doesn’t lie. But what we can find now is they are deceiving us,” he stated.
The association’s secretary also lamented the suffering of the contractors, noting that some members had run into debts, while others could not pay school fees and provide proper healthcare for their families. He insisted that the contractors would continue to prevent the staff of the ministry of Finance from working until their demands were met.
“Until they pay every one of our members, we will not leave the streets. We will continue to stay here. If it takes us till December, we will continue to stay here. They will not work if they continue to keep us this way. We can’t take it anymore.
“We have run out of business. We’ve run out of cash. We’ve run out of everything. School is opening next week. Most of our children are in school. Even in the last term, we couldn’t pay school fees. Is that how we are going to continue? We can’t.
“All our jobs have been done, completed. Handed over with a certificate that we have finished the job. The one that they have not finished, don’t pay. The one they have finished, we are here to tell them, please, pay,” Seun added.
Some members held up placards that read “National Assembly is folding their arms watching Nigerian contractors suffer injustice over 2024 Capital projects”.
“Pay local Contractors now”.
