Bail us out, Mr. President

Please permit me to use this medium to congratulate Mr. President on the success recorded so far on the war against corruption. We are also aware of the measures being taken by the Present Administration to ensure that our economy is strengthened. However, it is pertinent to note that many well meaning Nigerians have suggested a whole lot of ideas which the country could adopt in order to get out of the current economic situation which has been in the doldrums for months. One of such strategies as suggested by experts is that the Federal Government should endeavor to pay the money it owes Local Contractors. This according to them will help in revamping the economy. In recent times, quite a number of contractors whom the banks have granted loans are now unable to service and repay their loans. The reason is because some of them are being owed by the government. A situation whereby a contractor is owed for a job done after many years, obviously, there is no way such contractor would not default in its loan repayment obligations and this is not healthy for the economy. Our company happens to be one of the local firms that are being owed by the government. Five years ago, our firm was awarded a contract by one of the Federal Ministries. The contract agreement was duly signed by both parties in line with due process. There was no mobilization fee so, we had to borrow money from a commercial bank at high interest rate in order to enable us execute the contract. The contract was successfully executed and a job completion certificate was issued to us.

Two years after the contract had been executed, the Ministry that awarded us the contract made a part payment of the total contract sum and promised to pay the outstanding balance when money was made available. It is over three years now, the Ministry is yet to pay the outstanding balance. In February 2017, our company was reliably informed by one of the employees from the ministry that in October, 2016, the Minister of Finance directed all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAS) to forward the comprehensive list of contractors whose outstanding balance fell within ten million naira (N10 Million) for payment. We also learnt that the ministry that awarded the contract had forwarded the list to the office of the Minister of Finance for further necessary action. Incidentally, it is going to two years now that the list was sent to the office of the Minister of Finance, no money has been released. We on our own part had written several letters to the Ministry reminding it about the outstanding balance but the Director of Finance and Account in the Ministry keeps telling us that the Finance Ministry has not released the money. Our lenders have been threatening to sue us and we do not want our reputation to be dragged into the mud. It is on this premise that we are appealing to Mr. President to please bail us out. We will appreciate it if the President could apply his executive powers to instruct the Minister of Finance to please release the money so that the local contractors that are being owed by the government could be paid.

Bamidele Afolabi, Lagos