The House of Representatives has directed the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, to provide a detailed spreadsheet of payments made to contractors as part of the N2.4 trillion recently approved by the federal government for project implementation.
This was contained in a statement issued on Monday by Levinus Nwabughiogu, chief press secretary to the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, who chairs the Ad-hoc Committee on Budget Implementation.
According to the release, the lawmakers’ demand followed confirmation by the Office of the Accountant-General that about N2.4 trillion had been approved for disbursement to contractors.
The parliament also warned contractors to ensure project authenticity, stressing that they must ensure that projects paid for were “jobs well done” and not just for “a piece of paper or a certificate of completion.”
Why the House intervened
The intervention by the House follows months of protests by members of the Association of Indigenous Contractors of Nigeria, who accused the federal government of withholding payments for completed projects.
In early September, contractors blocked entrances to the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja, chanting solidarity songs and demanding payment for works they said had been executed years ago.
Following the demonstrations, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen constituted the special committee, led by Mr Kalu, to interface with the Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Accountant-General, and other relevant agencies.
The committee convened its first meeting on 4 September, where it brokered a truce with the contractors, resulting in an initial 25 per cent payment of outstanding sums.
A follow-up session on 21 September was scheduled to review progress on compliance.
Fresh disclosures
At Sunday’s appraisal meeting, the Director of Funds in the Office of the Accountant-General confirmed that N2.4 trillion had already been approved for contractors. According to him, about N160 billion of that sum remains unpaid.
He also disclosed that the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, had granted further approval for warrants and cash backing amounting to N760 billion for subsequent payments covering May to September.
With this, the government’s total commitment rises to nearly N3.1 trillion.
Mr Kalu commended the federal government for responding to the contractors’ plight despite prevailing economic stress, describing the payments as a great step in the right direction.
Contractors warned on authenticity of projects
While acknowledging the government’s responsiveness, the House also issued a stern warning to contractors against cutting corners or making fraudulent claims.
Mr Kalu stressed that every payment must correspond to tangible, completed projects that serve Nigerians.
“We told them it would be wickedness to claim a hospital has been built when lives are still being lost because there is no hospital. It is wicked to claim schools have been built when children are still learning under trees,” he said.
He added that parliament would not allow a situation where “a piece of paper or certificate of completion” substitutes for real infrastructure.
Legislative diplomacy
The deputy speaker described the committee’s work as an exercise in “legislative diplomacy” aimed at building trust between government institutions and aggrieved contractors.
According to him, the committee narrowed the contractors’ grievances into three categories: batch number delays, partial payments, and lack of warrant or cash backing for subsequent months.
He said while batch number issues had been fully resolved and 25 per cent of arrears cleared, the government was still addressing warrants and cash backing, which had now received the finance minister’s approval.
Mr Kalu also explained that Sunday’s meeting was monitored by both the finance minister and the Accountant-General, who were engaged at the Presidential Villa on other national duties but joined discussions virtually.
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Next steps
The House committee has scheduled a fresh appraisal session for 5 October to review the spreadsheet of payments and track progress on outstanding issues.
Mr Kalu said the committee would conduct “post-agreement scrutiny” on both sides, ensuring that genuine contractors are paid while preventing undeserving firms from cornering funds.
“So, we want to be able to use our office, the instrument of legislature, to investigate that list and to find out that they are not complaining when they have been paid, or those who have been paid are not the ones that are supposed to be paid.
“That, we will find out in the course of two weeks. We have agreed to meet again on the 5th of October for another appraisal of our agreement. So, it’s like post-agreement scrutiny, both on the side of government and on the side of the contractors,” he said.
