Local contractors in the Federal Capital Territory stormed the gate of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, on Monday over alleged unpaid contract bills said to total about ₦5.2 billion.
Some of the protesters claimed that individual debts owed ran into hundreds of millions, appealing to Wike to meet them directly to understand their plight.
One of the contractors, Okeke Benardine, told Punch that, “The thing is that we’ve done jobs with the FCT over the years. When the minister came, he paid us some. Most of our liability presently are from the present administration. But we have not been paid for almost two years now.
“And if you look there, those are some of the ACs I installed. Some of the offices, I did inverters, I did boreholes. And all we are doing is begging the minister. We don’t know the problem; he should just pay us. That is the essence of all this.”
He put the total claim at ₦5.2bn, adding that his personal outstanding was about ₦270 million.
“I have met one or two people who said their bills are not here, so I am sure it’s more than ₦5.2bn. I know some of our members are saying their bill is before 2023. But I can assure you that 70 per cent of the bill is from 2023,” Bernardine added.
Another contractor, Adebola Benson, claimed he was arrested after sending a text message to the minister to inquire about the delayed payments.
“Like in my own case, I was arrested because of this matter. I sent him a text, asking why we are having this issue. And the next thing I saw was a police officer calling me… But I do not know why the police did that,” he said.
He urged Wike to “listen to us directly, not from people around him. We want him to talk to us one-on-one. Let us know what the problem is, and why he is not paying.”
During the protest, some contractors held placards with inscriptions such as: “Hon Minister Wike, please kindly authorise our payment, we can hardly take care of our families,” and “Hon Minister Wike, please extend your kindness to us by authorising indigenous contractors’ payment.”
However, the FCTA swiftly dismissed the claims, insisting that Wike did not award contracts worth ₦5 billion to local contractors.
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