Barring last-minute change of plan, some aggrieved indigenous contractors were lurching towards an angry showdown with the Federal Ministry of Works over failure to pay them monies for execution of contracts.
The contractors on Monday issued the ministry a one-week ultimatum to treat their files and direct for immediate payment of their contract money or risk protest.
Addressing journalists on behalf of the contractors, Vitalis Maduka said the ministry was frustrating local contractors through deliberate failure to treat their files and ensure money owed them is paid since to they had delivered the work or gone far in handling the contract.
Maduka alleged that the ministry made sure foreign contractors were paid but is frustrating payment for local contractors by delaying to act on their files.
Vitalis said should the permanent secretary, Mahmuda Mamman, fail to address the contractors demands, they would embark on massive protest to the ministry of Works, office of the Head of Service of the Federation, the National Assembly and National Human Rights Commission to appeal to them to redeploy the permanent secretary.
The threat is coming few days after a civil society organisation, Governance Monitor Initiative (GMI) had urged President Bola Ahmad Tinubu to urgently redeploy the permanent secretary for allegedly sabotaging the new government’s efforts efforts.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, programme manager of GMI, Frank Chigozie, accused the permanent secretary of deliberately frustrating efforts to move the country’s infrastructure development forward.
He alleged that because of the perm sec’s attitude which is a clear sabotage, the contractors handling work on flood control have abandoned sites.
But when contacted, the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing which promised that it will respond after obtaining approval later called to say that it is a vague accusation and that the ministry won’t respond to unauthenticated allegations.
The director of press in the ministry, Blessing Lere-Adams, noted that there are two things that she observed in the accusation. That firstly, there is no signature of anybody who is writing the petition and secondly, no date on it. So she is going to drop it.
“I’m sorry, the petition must be authenticated by these: an identifiable address date/reference well endorsed with a name/mobile number inclusive. Only then it can be attended to. Please note!!!,” she said.
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