•Ikenga Ugochinyere (red cap) with the protesting contractors today
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been asked to sack the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun and Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Zack Adedeji over unpaid local contractors, who besieged the Ministry of Finance in the past three days.
Hon.Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, who stormed the Ministry of Finance in solidarity with the aggrieved contractors, called on President Tinubu to pay the local contractors, who have executed their jobs but waiting for their money, reports Daily Independent.
The contractors, under the aegis of “All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigerian,” have in their banner appealed to the National Assembly not to fold their arms and watch the Nigerian contractors suffer injustice over unpaid 2024 capital projects.
The local contractors have besieged the Ministry of Finance since on Tuesday demanding that their money for the contract be paid.
Addressing newsmen today at the venue of the protest by the contractors, Hon. Ugochinyere, who sat with the contractors in solidarity with them, noted that the contractors have already executed their jobs, but waiting for their payment.
He said: “These jobs have been executed in line with the procurement act, and the government is already enjoying the benefit of those jobs. Like in my constituency, people are already enjoying the street light. It’s part of my campaign. The water borehole is already running in my constituency. The erosion control point is already running in my constituency. So the government is already enjoying it.
“I believe the president will hear me. There’s no other way to renew hope than to pay contractors, local contractors, who will now pay their suppliers. And those suppliers will go to market and buy something. There’s no other way.
“There’s no other way to renew hope. And I will say this with all due respect, that the Finance Minister and the FIRS man are not doing Mr. President any good, because people are so angry.
“Families cannot fulfill their obligations. Banks cannot get their money back. Some of you took loans from banks. And these banks do not want to hear that you are here protesting, that I didn’t do it for you. Some took money from friends. Some used their car to borrow money.
“If he cannot pay local contractors, it’s not a favour. It’s a call to national duty. And then we are still paying for trillions of naira projects that are not of great importance to the day-to-day life of Nigerians.
“With all due respect to those intergenerational projects that are big, they are not as important as the local bridge you have put, as the solar lights you have put, as the farm implements you have supplied. So, if the president wants to renew hope, this is the time to pay this money. And we have the money to pay.”
Appealing to President Tinubu to pay the contractors, Ugochinyere said, “I’m pleading with the president. I’m calling on the president, If you cannot pay local contractors, then there is something wrong with the work of the Finance Minister and FIRS man. You sack them.
“I stand here not just because I’m a federal lawmaker. For a Nigerian that has brothers, who are also contractors, that have friends who are also contractors, I feel this pain.
“These contractors must be paid immediately. These payments must be done immediately and unconditionally. Government changed all the procedures of payment, all in the name of making the process efficient. Are we now saying that government was trying to deceive the people? No.
“I’m begging that the president puts an eye into what is happening in revenue generation, it’s very important. Put eye into what is happening in the Ministry of Finance. And again, it’s time for him to ask for the account balance sheet of the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund. You need to see the payment that they are making and compare how important they are to the lives of Nigerians.
“Please, Mr. President, pay the local contractors. And if they are not paid, it means that your finance minister and FIRS people have gone wrong. They don’t know their job. You sack them and bring the people that can do the job.
“The economy is not moving well because local contractors are not being paid. Remove the FIRS man, remove the minister of finance.
“Audit all the activities, every kobo that have come in and go out, especially those ones that were not appropriated by parliament. We could not have spent over 15 trillion of hard-earned resources that were not budgeted by parliament.”
