Deputy Speaker Kalu Resolves Indigenous Contractors Crisis with Federal Government

By Angel.Ike

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has worked out resolutions to bringing an end to the crises between the Federal Government and indigenous contractors of Nigeria.

It will recall that contractors, owed for months by the federal government recently staged a protest in Abuja.

Kalu who is also appointed as Chairman of the House Special Committee on Budget Implementation by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, called for an open dialogue with over eighty contractors across Nigeria.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Economy, Wale Edun, Accountant General of the Federation,Shamseldeen Ogunjimi and other top government officials were present.

At the end of the meeting that lasted for over four hours, Kalu announced that both parties have reached resolutions in the interest of the nation’s economy, expressing his gratitude to the Speaker of the house and his colleagues for entrusting him with the responsibility.

Kalu said, “We met on Wednesday with Finance Minister, Minister of Budget and Planning, Accountant-General of the Federation, Representatives that cut across all the caucuses of the House, including representation from the House Appropriation Committee and Finance.

“We saw the protest and asked them to come, lets have a conversation and they have shown humility in service. They’ve shown diligence in the way this matter has been handled and the parliament, we are happy that all we discussed yesterday they started implementing today, the ability to engage with the people.

“We had over 4 hours engagement and they left here smiling. We got the strategy in place, and we’re going to come back on the 21st of this month to review what we’ve done so far, how we’ve ticked the boxes, what needs to be done and the way forward.”

Wale Edun, Minister of finance and Coordinating Economy, and Accountant General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi commended the Deputy Speaker for his intervention, assuring that the payment to contractors will commence next week.

“Under the leadership of the Hon. Benjamin Kalu, we did hold a marathon meeting today where all the issues were discussed and a timeline was put in place and a way forward was mapped out and all parties at the end of it left knowing that contractors would be paid for jobs done and we have an orderly and systematic way of dealing with the backlogs which had approved overtime.

“Once again, we commend the leadership of the House of Representatives and the contractors for their willingness to sit down and dialogue.

“We had a peaceful solution. A timeline was put in place and everyone accepted that there are steps that need to be taken, approvals, finalization and orderly procedure for payments. After Friday’s holiday, the Central Bank will open again on Monday and payments will commence immediately”, Edun said.

The contractors who expressed satisfaction with the resolutions reached, pledged to end the protest.