There was pandemonium on Monday in Abuja when some aggrieved contractors, who supplied COVID-19 machines, kits and PPE to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), staged a peaceful protest to demand for their payment.
They barricaded the entrance gate of the FCTA secretariat, demanding the full payment of their contract fees.
The protesting contractors in their numbers, who lamented that the payment eas almost three years and that all their efforts have gone down the drain, carried placards with different inscriptions, ‘Dear Minister, Put an End to this Wickedness, Pay COVID-19 Contractors, Their Money is Close to Three Years Already’, ‘We are tired of fake promises,’ and ‘We Need our Money Now,’ among others.
The contractors, as early as 8am, stormed the Area 11 secretariat of the FCTA where the offices of FCT Ministers and the Permanent Secretary are located and barricaded the major entrance gate.
Mr. Micheal Ewoma, one of the contractors, who spoke with journalists, accused the FCTA management of reneging on the agreement of prompt payment three years after supplies.
“It may interest you to know that by March 2023 it will be three years the FCTA is owing us our money. Considering the politics going on presently, we do not want to be tied to nonpayment because of the electioneering period, we are appealing to the government to pay us the money, because a lot of people are in debt and our staff has not been paid salaries for months.
“It has been difficult for all of us. That is why we are appealing to the minister to pay this money so that contractors who came out to do these jobs will also be happy. We need to pay back our loans.
“The FCTA management having promised after we consulted with them severally have failed to honour all agreements with COVID-19 contractors. This is almost three years running and nothing has been done,” he said.
He said that it became very imperative for them to hold a peaceful protest at FCTA to demand the immediate full payment of their monies owed via the supply of various medical equipment and items after the outbreak of COVID-19 in the year 2019.
“You would recall that sometime last year 2021, we had a similar peaceful protest with the same demand which resulted in partial payment of our monies 80 per cent.
“As it stands today, some of our contractors have not received a dime as payment since 2019, lots are owed 20% balance of the contract sum. The FCT Minister, Permanent Secretary as well as the Executive Secretary HHSS.
“We are demanding 100 per cent payment of all the COVID-19 files without batching. FCT authorities should pay up all monies within a week to the COVID-19 contractors so that we all can move on with our lives,” he added.
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