The accountant general of the federation has disclosed that some MDAs had issued contracts without ensuring the availability of funds
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Procurement has called on the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Shamsudeen Ogunjimi, to expedite the payment of funds owed to contractors across various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Unyime Idem (APC–Akwa Ibom), gave the directive during an interactive session with the Accountant General in Abuja, expressing concern over the persistent delays and non-payment of contractors for projects executed in the past two years.
According to Rep. Idem, the committee has been inundated with petitions and protests from aggrieved contractors over unpaid contracts, warning that the situation was becoming increasingly volatile.
“The issue of non-payments of contractors’ funds for the past two to three years now; on a daily basis, as a committee in charge of public procurement, we receive petitions and then protest,” he said.
“So we use wisdom to manage them till today, if not, maybe by now, they would have burnt your office. But it took the effort of the committee and the leadership of the House to manage the anger and the protest on the side of the contractors.
“So the House asked us to also find out why they delay and, in some cases, non-payments for the past two years,” Rep. Idem stated.
He further directed the Accountant-General to, within seven days, provide relevant documents explaining alleged infractions in the contract award processes in the agency’s budget between 2023 and 2025.
Responding, Mr. Ogunjimi acknowledged that irregularities in the award of contracts contributed to the delay in payments. He alleged that some government agencies had issued contracts without ensuring the availability of funds, a practice that contravenes procurement laws and has created significant financial liabilities for the government.
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The Accountant General, who was appointed in March 2025, disclosed that several directors who held key positions when the alleged infractions occurred had since been redeployed from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF).
He assured the committee that efforts were underway to settle verified debts owed to contractors who had completed their projects.
Ogunjimi also pledged to submit a comprehensive and official response to all issues raised in the 2023–2025 budget within one week.
