THE All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria (AICAN) on Monday staged a protest at the Federal Ministry of Finance headquarters Monday in Abuja, refuting widespread reports that the Federal Government had disbursed N700 billion to settle outstanding liabilities owed to local contractors.

The contractors, who blocked the entrance to the ministry, clarified that the disputed sum is part of an overarching N1 trillion debt owed by the federal government for capital projects executed across the country during the 2024 fiscal year.

Speaking during the demonstration, the National President of AICAN, Jackson Nwosu, revealed that despite previous bureaucratic assurances, approximately 85 per cent of indigenous contractors remain unpaid.

Nwosu explained that during a previous reconciliation meeting with officials from the finance ministry and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), an agreement was reached to immediately release a tranche of N40 billion to beneficiaries by last Friday, a timeline the government failed to meet.

“We were expecting all the payments to drop into beneficiaries’ accounts by Friday, but that did not happen.

“Only a few persons, from what we have seen, have received payments. We borrowed money from banks, financial institutions and private lenders to execute projects. Government is taking the glory while contractors are suffering,” Nwosu said.

National Secretary of the association, Babatunde Seun, disputed the fiscal data in the public domain, stating that members had yet to see any bank alerts corresponding to the purported N700 billion release.

Seun rejected the proposal of partial payments blaming the administrative delays on the slow issuance of cash warrants to various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

He said “We came out this morning because of the news that N700 billion had been approved.

“We have submitted claims running into billions and many contractors have still not been paid. That is why we are here.”

A veteran member of the association, Ndubueze Kingsley, decried the psychological and financial toll of the impasse, lamenting that many local firms have suffered asset foreclosures due to accumulated bank interest.

“I have been a contractor for almost 25 years and this is the first time contractors are negotiating endlessly after completing jobs,” Kingsley said, vowing that the sit-in would continue until the central bank accounts of members are credited.

Responding to the aggrieved protesters on behalf of the government, the Permanent Secretary (Special Duties) at the ministry of finance, Mohammed Sanusi, sued for patience, explaining that the treasury was balancing multiple competing fiscal liabilities.

He clarified that the N700 billion mentioned in public reports had indeed been approved by the presidency, but explained that administrative cash backing protocols take time to process.

Sanusi explained that “Some of these monies have been approved please get it clear, approval is different from payment.

“We had a meeting with the Accountant General, we are working on contractors’ payment. N700 billion has been approved by the Federal Government for payment to the contractors, and an extra fund of N70 billion has been assigned for payment to this association. Payment will start dropping any moment from now.”