The contractors, who addressed a press conference in Abuja on Friday, called on the FCT minister to come to their aid, lamenting that they owe several banks which are pressing for payments in addition to millions of unpaid salaries of their staff.
Chairman of the association, Chief Ehikwe Ijefine, in a telephone interview, confirmed the development, saying about N216 million was paid by FCTA to a handful of them three months ago.
While refuting the allegation of monthly payments by the FCTA, the contractors wondered why the FCTA is insisting that there is no money when agencies under the administration are still awarding jobs.
He said their meeting with the FCT Permanent Secretary, John Chukwu, last week did not yield any fruit as the permsec said the finance ministry is yet to allocate funds to the FCTA.
The FCT Director of Treasury, Ibrahim Bomai, was not available for comments but a senior official in the Treasury department, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said all matured bills arising from liabilities to contractors from various departments and agencies are prepared monthly and a committee appointed by the minister proportionately shares the revenue for payment to contractors.
However, the FCT Administration has said it is indebted to the tune of N430 billion for services rendered to it by some of its development partners.
FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, made this disclosure on Tuesday while inaugurating the FCT Steering Committee on the Proposed National Dialogue in his office.
