The House of Representatives on Tuesday suspended plenary for one week to enable its leadership to engage the executive over the non-payment of billions of naira owed to contractors across the country.

The resolution followed the adoption of an urgent motion moved by Malam Kabiru Ahmadu Mai-Palace at a plenary presided over by Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu.

Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Business, Francis Waive, who seconded the motion, drew attention to the disruption caused at the National Assembly earlier in the day, noting that lawmakers and staff could barely access the complex as contractors barricaded the main gate in protest over delayed payments.

He stressed that the situation made it practically impossible to proceed with legislative business.

This followed after the House adopted a motion raised by Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, issuing a one-week ultimatum to the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, to immediately settle the debt profile owed contractors running into several billions.

Chinda expressed concern that, in spite of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive, following previous intervention by the House leadership, both Ministers have failed to release funds and implement approved payment schedules.
He warned that the delayed payments were worsening hardship for contractors, in addition to the pains inflicted on Nigerians due to the non-implementation of the 2024 and 2025 budgets to the fullest.

Accordingly, the House resolved to suspend plenary for one week to enable leadership to hold further high-level consultations with the executive to ensure compliance.

Earlier, hundreds of contractors blocked the entrance to the National Assembly complex in Abuja, protesting delayed payments and insisting on immediate disbursement of funds for completed and ongoing projects.

Meanwhile, a heated disagreement over which committee should investigate alleged irregularities in the management of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex threw the House of Representatives into a rowdy session on Tuesday.
The rowdy session forced lawmakers to go into an executive meeting to calm nerves.

The disagreement, which stemmed from three separate motions of urgent public importance, reached a boiling point when members clashed over the appropriate committee to probe the alleged illegal allocation and sale of federal assets at the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos.

The motion, moved by Hon. Ademorin Kuye (APC, Lagos), sought a directive for the Committee on Public Assets to conduct an investigation into the matter.

However, his proposal immediately met stiff opposition from the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Hon. Francis Waive, who raised a point of order, arguing that the investigation falls within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Commerce.