Non-payment Frustrating Us, Federal Contractors Tell Tinubu

Contractors handling federal projects across the country have accused the government of deliberately stalling works through funding delays. They insisted that the failure to disburse funds has not only forced them to abandon sites but is also causing them to incur more losses. This is even as they called for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s intervention.

Speaking on behalf of the contractors, Austin Emegwagwa claimed that contractors were last paid in October 2024.

“The new payment method is referred to as bottom-up, and unfortunately, the bottom-up for November to March has not been paid. Up till now, the releases for the 2024 budget to MDAs is not up to 50 per cent.”

He said contractors have abandoned sites except those handling the Lagos-Calabar coastal road, whom he claimed are even being paid in advance. “We have never experienced this long delay since the dawn of the current democratic dispensation. Contractors were paid last in October 2024. So, from November to date, there has been a long wait for payment”.

Emegwagwa lamented the payment delay, insisting that the government’s action has left some doubts about the 2025 budget. He wondered how the federal government would convince Nigerians that it could fund the 2025 budget when releases for the 2024 budget are not up to 40 per cent.

He said most contractors are tempted to believe that the government is deliberately starving them of funds even though their projects are at advanced stages of completion, adding, “This is a disincentive to most of us who have committed resources on the projects we are handling.”

He alleged that the government was solely focusing attention on the Lagos-Calabar coastal road, claiming that payment for the project has been going on seamlessly, and wondered why other contractors are being owed.

He lamented that, in spite of subsidy removal, excessive borrowing, and the devaluation of the naira, the government is still not willing to honour its contractual obligations to contractors, noting that “most of us are on the verge of going bankrupt because we borrowed money from banks at huge interest rates. The President should kindly come to our aide.”

Emegwagwa, however, appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct the minister of finance, Wale Edun, to urgently pay the contractors in the spirit of this month, during which the two major religions, Islam and Christianity, are observing Ramadan and Lent, respectively.