President Bola Tinubu has set up a committee to resolve the ₦1.5 trillion backlog owed to 2,000 contractors.
The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, briefed state house correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, December 10.
He said the President was “upset” after learning that about 2,000 contractors are owed.
“He made it very, very clear he is not happy and wants a one-stop solution,” Onanuga said. “An important highlight in the course of the FEC meeting is that the President expressed very, very grave displeasure about the fact that contractors are being owed money.
Pinnacle Daily reports that there has been an outcry from the contractors who decried delays in payment of arrears for jobs completed since the previous year.
In early September, the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria protested at the Finance Ministry in Abuja, claiming more than N4 trillion was outstanding for certified 2024 capital projects, a figure also reported during their demonstration at the National Assembly.
READ ALSO: Indigenous Contractors Protest Unpaid Funds, Block Finance Ministry Gate
The Works Ministry had acknowledged a backlog much earlier, launching a verification drive in January 2024 to clear roughly N1.5 trillion owed on federal highway contracts.
According to Onanuga, the concern came up, and the President had to mandate that the debt owed to the 2,000 contractors be cleared.
“So, the ministers are going to look into the problem to really find a solution, to find the money to be used in paying the contractors,” he said.
He noted the committee includes the Ministers of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; and Works, Dave Umahi.
Others are Minister of Education Olatunji Alausa, Housing Ahmed Dangiwa, and Marine & Blue Economy Gboyega Oyetola, along with the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Kurfi, and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Dr Zacch Adedeji.
READ ALSO: Reps in Rowdy Session Over Probe of Alleged ₦16.3tn CBN Non-Remittance
“All of them are supposed to sit down, develop a plan as a committee, meet as a committee, and then go to the president to tell him the solution they have found in allocating funds to pay contractors,” Onanuga said.
He stressed that the President’s mandate is to find the money and fix the problem of paying contractors.
“We need to look at problems. What has been causing this problem? Why have we had the FIRS saying we are getting more money and so on, yet we owe contractors? What could be the cause of this thing?
“That’s why he set up a multi-ministerial committee to look at the problem. He even said that, as a sovereign country, we can go and borrow to pay those contractors. But I think by the time those on the committee meet him today, I think we will find a solution,” Onanuga added.
Alex is a business journalist cum data enthusiast with the Pinnacle Daily. He can be reached via ealex@thepinnacleng.com, @ehime_alex on X
