Prosper Okoye
Hundreds of local contractors under the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria (AICAN) blocked the entrance to the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja on Monday, demanding payment of what they say is more than ₦4 trillion owed by the federal government for completed capital projects.
The protest escalated when demonstrators prevented the Minister of State for Finance, Doris Uzoka-Anite, from entering the ministry complex, triggering a tense standoff. Security operatives later fired a shot into the air to disperse the crowd. No injuries were reported.
Protesters said the unpaid bills relate largely to projects completed in 2024 but remain unsettled despite repeated assurances from the authorities. “These projects have been completed yet contractors are still unpaid,” AICAN president Jackson Nwosu told journalists, adding that only about 30 to 40 per cent of verified payments had been made.
Join our WhatsApp Channel“The government has failed to honour the agreement to pay contractors whose project details had been submitted and verified,” Mr Nwosu said, noting that many firms relied on bank loans to execute the projects and now face loan defaults and asset seizures.
AICAN vice-president Fredrick Agada described the response by security forces as intimidation and said the protest would continue until payments were made. “This is a peaceful protest. We are harmless. We are just sitting down peacefully, demanding our money,” he said.
The association’s secretary-general, Babatunde Oyeniyi, warned that prolonged non-payment could have wider economic consequences, saying contractors had engaged the Ministry of Finance, the National Assembly and other agencies since June 2025 without resolution.
Contractors also accused the government of prioritising payments to foreign firms, claiming some external contractors were paid promptly while local companies continued to wait.
The latest protest follows similar demonstrations in late 2025 and comes amid broader concerns over government cash flow and fiscal pressures.
In December, President Bola Tinubu set up a multi-ministerial committee to address contractor arrears, which were then estimated at about ₦1.5 trillion.
The federal government has also allocated ₦1.7 trillion in the 2026 budget for contractor debt settlement, but protesters say much of the funding has yet to be released.
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The Ministry of Finance had not issued an official response as of Monday afternoon.
Prosper Okoye is a Correspondent and Research Writer at Prime Business Africa, a Nigerian journalist with experience in development reporting, public affairs, and policy-focused storytelling across Africa
