The All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria (AICAN) has threatened to mobilise its members for a peaceful protest over the Federal Government’s failure to pay for completed projects and for breaching local agreements.

AICAN National President, Jackson Ifeanyi, made this known at a media briefing organised by the body’s executives on Monday in Abuja.

The president stated that over 90 per cent of the projects undertaken and completed by contractors on behalf of the federal government in 2024 have not been paid for, leaving contractors battling unpaid loans with rising interest rates from banks.

He lamented that the government through its Ministries, Departments and Agencies, (MDAs), has failed to honour local agreements with local contractors as they do with foreign contractors, showing clear favouritism.
“The government has been posting local contractors; they have been lying to contractors. They have not paid over 90 per cent of the local contracts that they have commissioned.
“We therefore demand that they should, as much as possible, as a matter of urgency, pay all contractors, including those who are still on site, before they commence fully with their 2025 budget,” he said.

The president said the government must henceforth honour local agreements with the same commitment and promptness as those entered into with foreign contractors.

He said that if contractors stop working due to non-payments, it will mean that the 2024 budget has failed “because you cannot give a contract when there are no funds.
“The contractors who go out there get funds from financial institutions, banks and other sources to do jobs on behalf of the government. It is an aberration not to pay.”

National Secretary of the association, Miniqs Babatunde-Seun, pointed out that AICAN is “demanding immediate release and prompt payment of April, May, June and July warrants with cash back, as other contractors are yet to complete their 2024 projects following the delay in payment from the government.”

He also said that local contractors should be given a guarantee of payment by the government for the completion of projects, insisting that “If these demands are not addressed immediately, we will proceed with our peaceful protests in accordance with our earlier resolutions.
“We call on the government to act urgently and responsibly to avoid further breakdown in trust as experienced before now. In AICAN, we believe that injury to one is injury to all.”