PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has established an inter-ministerial committee to address outstanding payments owed to over 2,000 federal government contractors, which Economy Post understands are over N3 trillion.
The president’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Tinubu.
For several days, contractors staged protests at government ministries, particularly the Federal Ministry of Finance, demanding payment for completed projects. Mr Onanuga said a visibly frustrated President Tinubu questioned why contractors remained unpaid despite reports of increased federal revenue.
The committee is therefore set up to fic the anomaly. It will include the Ministers of Finance, Works, Education, Housing, Economic Planning, and the Minister of the Marine and Blue Economy, alongside the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the Director-General of Budget, and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). They have been tasked with developing a payment plan within two weeks.
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“The President expressed grave displeasure that contractors are owed money. He set up a committee of about six ministers to find a solution and allocate the necessary funds. The DG of Procurement informed him that about 2,000 contractors are owed, which deeply upset him,” Mr Onanuga noted.
Onanuga added, “All committee members are expected to meet, devise a solution, and report back to the President. He made it very clear that he is not happy about the situation and wants it resolved promptly.”
Poor execution of 2024, 2025 budgets
Economy Post reported in November that one month to the end of 2025, President Bola Tinubu’s government was yet to implement the 2024 budget fully and had left this year’s fiscal plan in limbo, stalling several programmes that should uplift the lives of citizens
For much of the year, several government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been cash-trapped, unable to execute projects meant for the year. A number of contractors are yet to receive payment for the work done, while many who secured loans to executive contracts are strugglng to repay their facilities.
On November 6, aggrieved local contractors, lawyers and civil society activists barricaded the major entry and exit points of the National Assembly complex in protest over a N3 trillion debt owed them by the Nigerian government.
Speaking during the protest, National President of the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria, Mr Jackson Nwosu, said the group was left with no choice due to the government’s unmet promises.
“We are here because the Federal Government refused to pay contractors and we have brought the case to the parliament to address our grievances,” he said.
“This thing are capital projects that had already been executed and we have been pushing for payment since 2024. They are owing our association alone over N3 trillion.”
According to Mr Nwosu, the group had had meetings with Federal Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General of the Federation and even met with the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Benjamin Kalu, sometime around September 4, yet nothing came out of the meetings.
“But we have heard that the problem is from the Presidency. Yesterday, a senator came to assure us that our matter will be looked into. So, we will continue to block the entrance of the National Assembly until we get our alerts.”
The major but understated problem is that President Tinubu’s administration has upset the January to December budget cycle that was labouriosly achieved after 12 years under late President Buhari.
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Apart from years 2001 and 2007, Nigeria had the signing of its annual budgets delayed late into a new fiscal year since 1999, resulting in poor implementation of the budget. But this was corrected and returned to the January-December cycle in 2019 when late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administation was finalising the 2020 budget.
“The January to December cycle encourages certainty and helps investors to understand the government’s direction for the following year,” said an economist, Mr Patrick Osuagwu.
“It provides the certainty needed by all economic agents to plan and make projections.”
However, this has been upended by the Tinubu administration.
