Dare Babalola
The House of Representatives has ordered the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Shamsuldeen Ogunjimi, to produce a comprehensive breakdown of all payments made to contractors from the N2.4 trillion recently released by the Federal Government for project execution across the country.
The request followed the confirmation by the Office of the Accountant-General that about N2.4 trillion had been approved for payment to contractors.
In a statement by Chief Levinus Nwabughiogu, the Chief Press Secretary to Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, in Abuja on Monday, the parliament insisted that the funds must translate into projects that Nigerians can see, touch, and benefit from, warning contractors against the fraudulent practice of brandishing certificates of completion for jobs that exist only on paper.
Kalu, who is also the Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee on Budget implementation, said the parliament welcomed the government‘s approval of payment of contractors.
He added that a follow-up meeting has been scheduled for Oct. 5, for further appraisal of the agreement between the government and contractors.
“You may recall we had the first meeting on the 4th of September, borne out of the desire to attend to what took them to the streets, because they were protesting
“So, we decided to use the instrument of legislative diplomacy to do an intervention, which actually worked. We succeeded in getting them out of the streets after so much negotiation on the phone,” he said.
The deputy speaker, who affirmed the parliament’s commitment to the Nigerian people, said they brokered peace between the government and contractors.
He explained that during the appraisal, they were able to find out that 25 per cent of the payments as agreed have been made within two weeks.
Kalu confirmed that from their intervention, nothing has been done about the cash back and the warrant for the remaining months that the contractors complained about.
“We invited the bureaucrats to respond to that, and they said, yes, they have about N2.4 trillion that was approved for payment, and out of this amount, they have paid up, leaving only 160 billion unpaid out of N2.4 trillion.”
He therefore commended the government for having approved such an amount of money, irrespective of the economic challenges.
“Within eight or nine months of this government, under the reform we are going through, and the stress we are going through. To be able to approve this amount of money for the payment of contractors shows that the government is a listening government.”
Kalu said that the contractors left the meeting with a feeling of relief and satisfaction that steps were being taken in the right direction.
