The Federal Government has agreed to pay 35% of N150 billion owed to indigenous contractors upfront, as part of its arrangements to fully resolve lingering payment disputes on the capital projects.
The President of the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria (AICAN), Mr. Jackson Nwosu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the payment arrangement was agreed upon by the parties following a meeting with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, in his office
Nwosu said the agreement followed direct discussions between the association’s leadership and the Minister after the resumption of contractors’ protests.
According to him, the N150 billion represented part of the total N1.15 trillion debt for capital projects executed across various states, including the Federal Capital Territory, in 2024.
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The NAN reported: “Nwosu described the outcome of the meeting as encouraging, expressing optimism that the government would fulfil its commitments.
“The Federal Government had proposed to pay 35% of the N150 billion being demanded immediately, with the balance to be paid in phases in the coming weeks”, it added
Nwosu was further quoted as describing the outcome of the meeting as encouraging, expressing optimism that the government would fulfil its commitments.
The AICAN President disclosed that contractors were directed to obtain batch numbers from relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to facilitate payments, and that those without valid batch numbers would need to secure new warrants, as previous numbers had been updated for the new fiscal year.
He maintained that while the timeline to obtain batch numbers is short, the meeting represented a major step toward settling the indebtedness and that the contractors were expected to receive the remainder of the N150 billion in phased disbursements over the next few weeks.
Nwosu confirmed that before the latest deal to offset 35% of the N150 billion owed by the government, only N21 billion had been paid to the contractors leaving over N1 trillion outstanding debt.
It would be recalled that the association had a few days ago threatened to take their protests over the debt to the ruling party’s national convention scheduled to hold this Saturday in Abuja.
