The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has dismissed claims by local contractors that his administration owes them over N5.2 billion.
Wike insisted that many of the contracts in question were never awarded by him, but by civil servants acting without ministerial approval.
The PUNCH reports that the contractors had staged a protest at the Minister’s gate on Monday, that the FCT Administration owed them about ₦5.2 billion for jobs executed across the territory.
The claim was, however, disputed by the Minister’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, who stated that the administration had not awarded any projects since inauguration and that Wike had cleared a previous N10bn backlog from the previous administration.
Speaking during the commissioning of the Phase 2 rehabilitation works at the Lower Usman Dam in Ushafa on Tuesday, Wike said the outcry from indigenous contractors alleging non-payment was nothing but blackmail intended to intimidate him into settling questionable debts.
He further alleged that many of the controversial debts being touted were the result of unauthorised contract awards carried out by bureaucrats within the FCT Administration.
“I came on board with the minister of state and people were already complaining that local contractors were being owed ₦5 billion, ₦8 billion. I asked, who awarded these contracts?
“Do you know what happened? Civil servants stay in their offices and award contracts worth ₦15 million, ₦10 million, ₦20 million without the minister knowing. And then you hear people say ministers are owing ₦15 billion, when you don’t know when it was awarded, certainly it will not happen! Let heaven come down! Nobody can intimidate me on that,” he said.
The minister accused the groups claiming to be contractors of being fronts for corrupt officials who had hijacked the process.
“If you see the faces of those people, they don’t look like contractors. Those who awarded the contracts to themselves are bringing these people to come out and demonstrate. If you like, go to the British embassy, all the embassies, and sleep there. I will never feel pressured,” Wike insisted.
He stressed that his administration would only honour contracts that were duly awarded through the proper channels and backed by available funding.
“If I award contracts, I will pay. And those who know me know that I don’t award contracts when we don’t have money. The Federal Executive Council awarded some contracts, and I told them, hold on, we don’t have money yet, so don’t mobilise. Let it not be that you say you borrowed money,” Wike explained.
Dismissing claims that he was responsible for debts being bandied around, Wike challenged those making accusations to produce documents linking him to such awards.
“Let anybody who said I awarded a contract bring the documents and show how I awarded the contract. If I never awarded contracts, why should I be held responsible? We must do things right. If it was not done right yesterday, it does not mean it will not be done right today,” he said.
He further described the practice of splitting projects into small sums in the budget, ₦10 million, ₦15 million, ₦25 million, as a deliberate ploy by civil servants to corner funds without delivering meaningful impact.
Wike warned that his administration would not be blackmailed into continuing with the “business as usual” culture of frivolous spending and contract padding.
“You cannot embarrass me. It’s not my business. Go and meet those who awarded the contracts to you and tell them your children are out of school. It’s very embarrassing. Very embarrassing,” he said.
