President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday expressed grave displeasure over the growing backlog of unpaid federal contractors and constituted a multi-ministerial committee to address funding bottlenecks and expedite repayments.
Speaking after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House, Abuja, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Tinubu was visibly upset after learning that about 2,000 contractors were owed for completed projects.
“He made it very, very clear he is not happy and wants a one-stop solution,” Onanuga told State House correspondents. “The DG of the Bureau of Public Procurement informed the President that about 2,000 contractors are being owed, and this made the President very upset.”
According to him, Tinubu directed the newly formed committee to identify the root causes of delayed payments, source funds, and present a clear repayment plan directly to him.
The committee comprises the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; Minister of Works, Dave Umahi; Minister of Education, Olatunji Alausa; Minister of Housing, Ahmed Dangiwa; and Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola. Others include the Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Kurfi, and Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji.
“All of them are supposed to sit down, develop a plan as a committee, meet, and then go to the President to tell him the solution they have found,” Onanuga explained.
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He added that Tinubu questioned the inconsistency between rising government revenue and persistent contractor indebtedness and said Nigeria could even borrow if necessary to clear verified arrears.
The President’s directive comes amid mounting agitation from contractors, who in September staged protests at the Federal Ministry of Finance and the National Assembly, alleging more than N4tn remained unpaid for certified 2024 capital projects. Earlier in January, the Works Ministry launched a verification exercise to validate roughly N1.5tn owed on federal highway contracts.
The situation is further complicated by Nigeria’s overlapping budget cycles, with the 2024 capital budget running deep into 2025. On November 12, lawmakers approved an additional N1.15tn in domestic borrowing to help bridge the expanded 2025 deficit, shortly after the government raised $2.35bn from Eurobond markets to boost financing.