By Ayodele Abere
The Federal Ministry of Finance and other concerned authorities have been implored to urgently look into the plight of members of the Association of Police Contractors over non-payment of executed contracts which fall between five and one hundred million naira
The leadership of the Association, through its President, Mr Steven Ogbonna in an interview with journalists said their members are already living below standard of living as Nigerian citizens because of non-payment for contracts executed for the Nigeria Police since 2010.
Recounting, the President explained that the Nigeria Police awarded the contracts of houses and barracks renovation across the nation to the members of the association in 2010 including supply of gadgets.
According to him, “We duly executed the projects because we were given a time limit to get the jobs delivered. Some were to be delivered within twelve weeks and some within eight weeks.
“We so much had confidence in Nigeria Police because we have been working for them over the years without experiencing any delay in payment”.
The President remarked that they never expected how the whole thing turned out because they took loans to execute some of the projects, adding that they went to sites, worked so hard and delivered without compromising the agreement reached with the Police.
He further posited that members of the association also executed a project in 2009 with balance of the payment still pending before the one of 2010 was awarded to them. The association’s leader said they had visited various Inspectors-General of Police at different times on the matter, and had undergone several verifications by the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA).
Mr. Ogbonna, equally pointed out that the Presidential Committee Initiative on Continuous Audit inherited the debt through Debt Management of Nigeria, promising to get them paid in less than six months, but the promise is yet to be fulfilled till now.
He cited part of their ordeals this way: “We have been going there. We have staged different protests but never paid us”.
Ogbonna explained that the committee put in place has carried out investigation and confirmed that they were duly certified to execute the projects.
He therefore urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other relevant authorities to expedite action on getting the money paid, maintaining that some of the members are starving and dying.