The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Monitoring and Evaluation, Hon. Obi Aguocha, has called on President Bola Tinubu and the Federal Government to urgently revisit its current policy on payment of contractors handling projects across the country, warning that failure to do so could plunge Nigeria’s infrastructure development into a deeper crisis.
Aguocha, who represents the Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency of Abia State, said the recent protest by aggrieved contractors under the aegis of the Concerned Local Contractors and the threat of a similar protest by the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria (AICAN) were clear signals that the system requires urgent review.
According to him, AICAN has revealed that over 90 per cent of the projects executed and completed on behalf of the Federal Government in 2024 remain unpaid for, forcing contractors to struggle with mounting bank loans and rising interest rates.
In a statement personally signed, Aguocha stressed that if the central payment system domiciled in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) and the Federal Ministry of Finance has failed to achieve the desired efficiency, then there is nothing wrong with reviewing the policy to reduce the hardship and challenges facing contractors.
“Non-payment of contractors not only erodes public trust in the government’s ability to manage projects effectively but also delays execution, inflates costs, and places further strain on public resources.
“If urgent action is not taken, this prolonged issue will damage the reputation of both the government and contractors, thereby undermining future collaboration,” he warned.
The lawmaker further noted that the situation has direct consequences for budgetary projects.
“Contractors are reluctant to take up new assignments without assurances of timely payment; projects already approved in the appropriation act risk delays or abandonment, and communities in dire need of infrastructure may be denied the benefits of government intervention,” he stated.
Aguocha also expressed concern that, with only four months left in 2025, emphasis is still on settling 2024 projects, a backlog that he said undermines effective planning and disrupts the yearly budget cycle.
He lamented that with four months to the end of the year 2025, about 95 per cent of projects nationwide are not cash-backed for execution, wondering what happened to the $22bn borrowing transaction recently approved by the National Assembly for projects nationwide.
Aguocha further argued that project execution remains the surest way of bringing dividends of democracy to the grassroots, stressing that everything must be done not to derail.
He therefore called on the authorities concerned with managing project funding to ensure that Nigerians are not shortchanged through the non-release of funds for projects already earmarked in the 2024/2025 Appropriation Act for execution.
