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There was pandemonium on Monday when some aggrieved contractors who supplied COVID-19 Machines and other medical equipment to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) staged a peaceful protest.
They barricaded the entrance gate of the FCTA secretariat, demanding full payment of their contract money.
The protesting contractors lamented that the money owed them is almost three years, adding that their efforts have been washed down the drain.
They were seen carrying placards with different inscriptions, like: ‘Dear Minister, put an end to this wickedness, pay COVID-19 contractors, their money is close to three years already’; ‘We are tired of fake promises,’ and ‘we need our money now,’ among others.
The contractors, as early as 8 am, stormed the Area 11 secretariat where the offices of FCT Ministers and the Permanent Secretary are located and barricaded the major entrance gate.
Micheal Ewoma, one of the contractors who spoke with reporters, accused the FCTA management of reneging in the agreement of prompt payment after three years of supplies.
Ewoma said: “It may interest you to know that by March 2023 it will be three years the FCTA is owing us our money. Considering the politics going on presently, we do not want to be tied to nonpayment because of the electioneering period we are appealing to the government to pay us the money, because a lot of people are in debt and our staff has not been paid salaries for months.
“The FCTA management having promised after we consulted with them severally have failed to honour all agreements with COVID-19 contractors. This is almost three years running and nothing has been done”.
He said that it became very imperative for them to hold a peaceful protest in FCTA to demand the immediate full payment of their monies owed via the supply of various medical equipment and items at the advent of COVID-19 in the year 2019.
“You would recall that sometime last year 2021, we had a similar peaceful protest with the same demand which resulted in partial payment of our monies 80 percent.
“As it stands today, some of our contractors have not received a dime as payment since 2019, lots are owed 20% balance of the contract sum. The FCT Minister, Permanent Secretary as well as the Executive Secretary HHSS.
“We are demanding 100 percent payment of all the COVID-19 files without batching. FCT authority should pay up all monies within a week to the COVID-19 contractors so that we all can move on with our lives,” he said.
Throughout the protest, no official of the FCTA came out to address the protesting contractors.
