*Invites Contractors’ Leaders
*Minister May Appear Too
*Legislature Determined To Give Justice In The Matter
By our reporter
Succour appears on the way for members of the Association of Indigenous Contractors of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as Senate has invited them to an investigative hearing following a petition by the group to the nation’s upper legislative chamber on an alleged contractual liability to the tune of over N5billion incurred by FCT Administration (FCTA) to the contractors.
Six members of the association were invited by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions to the hearing scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, 14 October, 2025.
The invitation letter, dated 24 September, 2025, which was sighted by our reporter, was signed by Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Christian Onwusonye.
Titled ‘Invitation To An Investigative Hearing Of The Senate Committee On Ethics, Code of Conduct And Public Petitions In Respect Of A Petition From You And Five (5) Others On Behalf Of Association Of Indigenous Contractors Of FCTA Against FCTA Over Alleged Nonpayment Of Contractual Liabilities’ , the one-page, seven-paragraph letter instructed them to appear before the Committee in person and not by proxy at Meeting Room 120, Senate’s New Building,inside the National Assembly (NASS) Complex, Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The contractors were ordered to submit 15 copies of their written presentations (if any) to the Committee’s Secretariat at a stated office within the Senate on or before the hearing date.
Furthermore, they were warned that “should you fail to attend the Hearing as required, the case may be heard or determined in your absence.”
The contractors have been at loggerheads with FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, over a bill of about N5.2billion which they claimed was for public welfare jobs procured by, awarded and duly certificated as properly completed by FCTA, but were saddened that the Minister allegedly refused to approve payment.
Most of the contracts, they said, were awarded and signed off by Wike’s political appointees who head the different Secretariats, Departments and Agencies (SDAs) of FCTA.
The jobs, which were not awarded simultaneously, were in several areas such as supply,desilting of drainages, city aesthetics, schools’ furniture, items in the Office of the Minister, and so on.
The association said the non-payment of the contract bills had occasioned severe hardship in their homes, with many ejected by their landlords, their children not in school, and banks from whom they borrowed money to execute the contracts, on their necks and,in some cases, seized their properties.
A couple of members had died as they chased the payments, the association told newsmen at different media briefings on the indebtedness even as one of the contractors, identified as Benson, was reportedly detained by police for posting a WhatsApp message to Wike detailing the dire economic straits non-payment had thrown his family and requesting that he be paid to take care of his family.
In one of the contractors’ peaceful protests last year, police tear-gassed the contractors, allegedly on the Minister’s orders.
The group has sought several leeways to get paid, including writing many letters to Wike; protesting in front of FCTA headquarters at 1 Kapital Road, Area 11, Garki, Abuja; holding press conferences on the matter; buying space in national newspaper pleading with President Bola Tinubu in an open letter to order Wike to pay them –all to no avail.
A source in the Senate Committee said the legislature is determined to get to the root of the matter and “give justice to whomever it is due.”
It was not clear,as of press time,if the Minister was also invited,but a source in the Senate said: “Usually in such controversial cases as this, all parties are often invited to come and state their perspectives,to enable the people’s legislature take necessary binding positions.”
*PHOTO CAPTION: Wike.
