Contractors handling various capital projects for the Nigeria Police across the states of the federation and Abuja, at the weekend, sent a Save our Soul message to President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly over the non-payment for projects executed amounting to over N7 billion over the years.
Arising from an emergency meeting in Abuja, the contractors, through their spokesperson, Chief Patrick Ojo, pleaded with President Jonathan and the lawmakers to quickly come to their aid in ensuring prompt payment of the debt to save them from further harrasments from the banks where they obtained loans for the execution of the projects.
The contractors lamented that apart from threats by the banks to auction their properties over failure to settle their debts, they had also lost 10 of their members while many others had been hospitalised due to ill-health arising from worries over the debt burden.
According to Chief Ojo, "all our efforts to get the money paid have proved abortive. We have approached the Minister of Police Affairs, we have also approached previous and the current Inspectors General of Police. Even the Senate Committee on Police Affairs has intervened. All we got were promises. We are fed up. Our members are dying and banks are on our necks. They want to auction our properties. We are, therefore, pleading with the President and the National Assembly to come to our rescue."
Though the Minister of Police Affairs could not be immediately reached for comments on the matter, one of his aides, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity, disclosed that some payments commenced last week and that the minister was committed to ensuring that the debt was paid on time.
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