President Bola Tinubu has ordered an urgent probe into the growing backlog of debts owed to federal contractors, expressing strong dissatisfaction after learning that over 2,000 contractors are yet to be paid.
The President’s reaction was conveyed by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, while briefing State House correspondents after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Onanuga, who represented the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said Tinubu was “deeply upset” upon being informed by the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, that the outstanding verified debts had climbed to about ₦1.5 billion.
“He made it very clear he is not happy and wants a one-stop solution,” Onanuga stated. “The President expressed grave displeasure that contractors are being owed money. The DG of the BPP told him about 2,000 contractors are owed, and this made the President very upset.”
To address the issue, Tinubu has set up a high-level, multi-ministerial committee tasked with identifying the bottlenecks and developing a concrete plan to clear the debts. Members of the committee include the Ministers of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; Works, Dave Umahi; Education, Olatunji Alausa; Housing, Ahmed Dangiwa; and Marine & Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola.
The Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Kurfi, and Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr Zacch Adedeji, are also part of the team.
According to Onanuga, the committee is expected to “sit down, develop a plan, meet as a body, and present their solution to the President on how to allocate funds to pay contractors.”
He noted that the President demanded clarity on why debts remain unpaid despite improved revenue collection by agencies such as the FIRS.
“He even said that as a sovereign country, we can borrow to pay the contractors,” Onanuga revealed. “The mandate is simple—find the money and fix the problem.”
The contractor debt crisis has intensified in recent months. In September, the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria protested at the Ministry of Finance and later at the National Assembly, alleging that more than ₦4 trillion in certified capital project payments remained outstanding for 2024.
Earlier in January 2024, the Ministry of Works had also confirmed a significant backlog and launched a verification exercise to validate roughly ₦1.5 trillion owed on federal highway contracts.
Nigeria’s budget execution challenges have been further strained by the continuation of overlapping fiscal cycles, with 2024 capital components now extending deep into 2025.
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