President Bola Tinubu has set up a high-level committee to resolve the issues around the federal government debt of about ₦4 trillion owed to federal contractors.
This is as the President declared that he is not happy about the situation.
The position of President Tinubu was made known on Wednesday by his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, while addressing newsmen after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
According to Onanuga, the DG (Director-General) of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, told the President that about 2000 contractors are being owed money, and this made the President very, very upset.
To this end, Tinubu set up a committee to look into the situation and proffer a solution.
“He made it very, very clear he is not happy and wants a one-stop solution.
“An important highlight in the course of the FEC meeting is that the President expressed very, very grave displeasure about the fact that contractors are being owed money.
“The DG (Director-General) of the Bureau of Public Procurement actually told the President that about 2000 contractors are being owed money and this made the President very, very upset.
“So the ministers are going to look into the problem to really find a solution, to find the money to be used in paying the contractors,” Onanuga said.
Naijaonpoint understands that the members of the committee are the Ministers of Finance (and Coordinating Minister of the Economy), Wale Edun; Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; Works, Dave Umahi; Education, Olatunji Alausa; Housing, Ahmed Dangiwa; and Marine & Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, along with the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Kurfi; and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Dr Zacch Adedeji.
“All of them are supposed to sit down, develop a plan as a committee, meet as a committee, and then go to the president to tell him the solution they have found in allocating funds to pay contractors,” Onanuga added.
Onanuga added that following the briefing to the council by the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, President Tinubu directed the committee to look into the problem and recommend how the debts can be settled.
“The mandate is to find the money and fix the problem of paying contractors.
“We need to look at problems. What has been causing this problem? Why have we had the FIRS (Federal Inland Revenue Services) saying we are getting more money and so on, yet we are owing contractors? What could be the cause of this thing?
“That’s why he set up a multi ministerial committee to look at the problem. He even said that, as a sovereign country, we can go and borrow to pay those contractors. But I think by the time those on the committee meet him today (Wednesday), I think we will find a solution,” he explained.
It would be recalled that contractors under the aegis of the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria (AICAN) started a non-stop protest at the ministry last Tuesday over debts being owed by the Federal Government.
They accused the federal government of attempting to push them out of business.
© 2025 Naijaonpoint, a division of NOP Media Inc. Contact us via [email protected]