FCT Consultants Write President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate Over Unpaid Contracts

Consultants to the FCT Area Council Service Commission have continued the quest for the payment of debt owed them by writing to President Muhammadu Buhari and Senate committee chairman on FCT for their quick intervention.

The aggrieved consultants say they are being owed payment for contracts and consultancy jobs they completed since 2020.

This is coming after 44 of the consultants had in December 2022 petitioned the FCT minister of state, Hajiya Ramatu Tijani Aliyu, over the long over-due N600 million unpaid contracts and consultancy fees held back by the area council service commission since 2020 after completion of their contracts.

In a letter dated January 23, 2023 signed by the 44 unpaid contractors and addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari and chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, the contractors said they had no option than to resort to writing to the president and the senate since all efforts towards getting their monies had proved to be unsuccessful.

Part of the letter stated that: “We the undersigned FCT Area Council Services Commission consultants wish to bring to your notice that jobs that we have duly executed for the past two years, precisely from 2020, are yet to be paid by the management of FCT Area Council Service Commission despite the fact that the Commission receives one percent training fund allocation from the FCT administration on a monthly basis.

“To make matter worse, we observed that in the last six months that the new acting administrative secretary, Alhaji Musa Loko, assumed office, he has been issuing new training jobs and making 100 per cent upfront payments before training jobs are executed, a situation that is very strange to due process and the procurement rules without recourse to the previous jobs allocated and done by the consultants.”

One of the consultants, Mr Owolabi Olusegun said the contractors had met with the acting administrative secretary,  Loko, on December 19 and 28, 2022 at the commission board room at 11am, where it was resolved at the meeting that they would commence payment with the December 2022 allocation.