The All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria (AICAN) has threatened to stage a protest at the All Progressives Congress (APC) national convention in Abuja if the federal government fails to release N150 billion owed to its members within 48 hours.
Jackson Nwosu, national president of AICAN, issued the warning on Tuesday in Abuja during a resumed protest by the association’s members over delayed payments for government contracts executed in 2024 and 2025.
“For AICAN members, the government has only paid N21 billion between this period in question; what is remaining to be paid is over N1 trillion, but what we are discussing as the immediate payment is N150 billion,” Nwosu said.“
Our immediate demand is for the payment to be made between now and the next two days.”Seun Babatunde, national secretary of AICAN, added that many members are facing severe hardship, with some even losing their lives due to the unpaid debts.“
"A lot of our members are dying as a result of the debt the federal government owes them,” Babatunde said, citing the case of a member who died of prostate cancer because he could not afford surgery after being owed over N100 million.
The contractors noted that while the 2026 appropriation bill allocated N1.7 trillion for verified contractors’ liabilities in 2024 and N100 billion for other local contractors’ debts, actual disbursements have been slow due to verification processes.
President Bola Tinubu had earlier directed government officials to prioritise payments to indigenous contractors, and the Ministry of Finance has been engaging with AICAN on the matter.
AICAN members have staged multiple protests in Abuja in recent months over the backlog, which they say is crippling their businesses, preventing loan repayments, and threatening project sustainability.
The group warned that failure to meet the 48-hour deadline could see them disrupt activities at the APC national convention scheduled for March 27 and 28 at Eagle Square in Abuja.
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