Local contractors in the Federal Capital Territory and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, clashed on Monday over alleged unpaid contract bills said to total about N5.2bn.
On Monday, protesting contractors stormed the minister’s gate, demanding payment for jobs executed over the past two years.
Some of them alleged 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 The PUNCH: “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 N5.2bn, adding that his personal outstanding was about N270m.
“I have met one or two people who said their bills are not here, so I am sure it’s more than N5.2bn. 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.”
But the FCTA swiftly dismissed the claims, insisting that Wike did not award contracts worth N5bn to any local contractors.
In a statement, the minister’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, said: “No contract was awarded to any of the local contractors by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike. If they have documents showing award of contracts by the Minister, they should produce them.”
Olayinka explained that what Wike met on assumption of office was an inherited debt of about N10bn for “minor procurements” under previous administrations.
According to him, the outstanding liabilities were cleared in two tranches: over N5bn in December 2023 and another N5bn in January 2024.
“Three months later, another set of contractors surfaced with fresh claims amounting to N15 billion. From N15 billion to N8 billion and now N5 billion, the question is: on whose authority were the contracts awarded? Those are the questions they have to answer first,” Olayinka stated.
The FCTA insisted that while Wike had honoured all inherited obligations, he had not issued new contracts under the disputed “minor procurement” arrangement, raising doubts over the legitimacy of the fresh claims.