The Federal Government will on Monday commence long-awaited payments to indigenous contractors, following a breakthrough mediated by Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Okezie Kalu.
The agreement comes after months of unpaid arrears sparked protests in Abuja by contractors demanding settlement of debts.
As Chairman of the House Special Committee on Budget Implementation, Kalu convened a high-level meeting with more than 80 contractors, Finance Minister Wale Edun, Accountant-General of the Federation Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, and other senior officials.
The four-hour dialogue produced a structured plan for immediate disbursements and a framework for systematically clearing the backlog. Contractors described the outcome as timely, saying it “averted further disruption and underscored the value of constructive dialogue in resolving economic disputes.”
Kalu praised the House leadership for prioritising the issue:
“First of all, I want to thank the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass, PhD, GCON, the leadership of the House for finding me worthy to be the Chairman of the Budget Implementation Committee. We met yesterday, cut down our holidays to reconvene and look into this all-important matter.”
He added that progress would be reviewed later this month:
“We had over four hours’ engagement and they left here smiling. We got the strategy in place, and we’re going to come back on the 21st of this month to review what we’ve done so far, how we’ve ticked the boxes, what needs to be done and the way forward.”
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Finance Minister Edun confirmed that a clear timetable had been set:
“Under the leadership of Benjamin Kalu, we did hold a marathon meeting where all the issues were discussed and a timeline was put in place and a way forward was mapped out… After Friday’s holiday, the Central Bank will open again on Monday and payments will commence immediately.”
Accountant-General Ogunjimi also assured contractors of the government’s commitment:
“This process is ongoing. We’ve been paying contractors and we will continue to pay. From Monday, payments will start dropping.”
Leaders of the Association of Indigenous Contractors of Nigeria welcomed the resolution, commended Kalu’s intervention, and pledged to suspend their protests in light of the government’s commitments.
