The House of Representatives at its plenary session on Tuesday, 27 February 2018 urged the Federal Ministry of Finance to look into the indebtedness and source for fund to offset the debt and or in the alternative come up with payment plan to Pay Monies Allocated for Local Contractors in the 2017 Budget.
Leading the debate on the motion Hon. Magaji Da’u Aliyu (APC: Jigawa) stated that stated that the Federal Government has been indebted to the tune of N9.1 Trillion to Local Contractors in the last 3 years as reflected in the Reports of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Debt Management Office. He noted that the inability of the Federal Government to finance the 2017 budget deficit and meet its other obligations made the Ministry of Finance to source for funds from commercial Banks and the Capital Market through “sukuk” e.t.c while the said fund has not been used to pay indigenous contractors.
Speaking further, Hon. Aliyu noted that the country’s most recent economic recession had adversely affected the standard of living of Nigerians. Therefore, the Federal Government could reflate the economy by paying Local Contractors to create employment and increase the purchasing power of Nigerians. He also said that the sum of N20, 000,000,000.00 (Twenty Billion Naira) was earmarked in the 2017 budget to settle debts owed to local contractors and other liabilities.
In addition, Hon. Aliyu emphasised to the importance of resolving the exigency at hand. He expressed concern that some of those contractors may have collected loans from various commercial Banks or other financial houses, which may be yielding interest on daily basis and may have even lost the collateral used to obtain such loans due to the delay in payment. He also stated that many of the local contractors would have dependents, responsibilities and various financial commitments, especially at these trying times where the economy has just exited from recession and unemployment is rife.
The House also mandated its Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management to ascertain the efforts of the Debt Management Office in assessing the Federal Government’s inability to pay Local Contractors; and investigate the actual indebtedness of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government to Local Contractors within the last three years.
