Peter Obi, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has criticised the federal government over the non-payment of local contractors across the country.
Obi said images and reports of contractors protesting in Abuja and other parts of Nigeria were evidence of growing hardship faced by small and medium-sized businesses.
He said most of the protesting contractors were ordinary Nigerians who had completed public projects with the expectation that government would honour its obligations.
Obi said the development was especially troubling given President Bola Tinubu’s public announcement in August that Nigeria had “met and surpassed its revenue target for the year.”
He said such an announcement should ordinarily translate into increased investment in education, healthcare and poverty reduction, adding that the government’s failure to pay contractors contradicted its claims of improved revenue performance.
Obi said the situation reflected deeper problems of transparency and accountability in public finance management.
He said the refusal to pay contractors had severe economic consequences, including the closure of small businesses, job losses and increased hardship for families.
He said the country could not build a strong economy when public funds were mismanaged and local businesses were treated as expendable.
Obi said revenue growth should be reflected in prompt payments, stronger micro, small and medium enterprises, and lower public borrowing.
He said, “Meeting our obligations to contractors is not optional; it is a test of honesty, competence, and true leadership.”
He added that a government that failed to fulfil its commitments could not be trusted to build the nation, noting that leaders must manage public resources with discipline and create an economy that works for citizens.
He said this was the only pathway through which the nation could rise.
That’s y u see slow pace of work on federal roads. They don’t pay d contractors n in this type of our economy, if u don’t pay contractors they find it difficult to continue n so u see a lot of slow or abandon projects all over d country. If they have used d trillions they pay hightech upfront for d white elephant coastal roads to pay for d repairs of federal roads, we wld have seen better road network. But propaganda wld not allow them to do d right thing.