Local contractors operating under the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria have staged a protest at the Headquarters of the Ministry of Finance in Abuja, to demand payment for capital projects executed in 2024, amounting to about N4 trillion.
Speaking on Wednesday September 3,2025,during the protest, Secretary of the Association, Babatunde Seun, said the contractors had previously met with the Accountant General of the Federation(AGF), Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, and Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, over the delayed payments to no avail.
Seun alleged that the AGF and the Minister had promised payments “within 48 hours” after their previous engagement, stating, however, that only five of its 5,000 members had received payments.
“They have not fulfilled their promise. The government has not fulfilled their promise. They have been paying us piecemeal. Last Wednesday, we had a meeting with the Accountant General of the Federation. And he promised us that all finalised payments will drop into the beneficiaries’ accounts within 48 hours.
“From last Wednesday to today, it has been over a week. They continue with lies. The Minister of Finance, we have been with him on various occasions.
“He promised that they would pay the February and March warrants. They released their warrants without cash backing.
“Out of 5,000 people that we are expecting, we only had five people from our platform that received the money. We believe an elderly man does not lie. But what we can find now is they are deceiving us,” he said.
The Association Secretary lamented the suffering of the contractors, noting that some members had run into debts, while others could not pay school fees and provide proper healthcare for their families.
