Consultants working for the Federal Capital Territory Area Council Service Commission have appealed to the FCT Minister, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, to help offset the N408 million debt owed them by the immediate-past administration.
In an appeal for intervention of the FCT minister for the payment of the debt signed on behalf of the unpaid contractors by the duo of Mr G.A Sunday and Olusegun Owolabi, they claimed that a committee was set up by the past FCT Minister, Mallam Mohammed Bello, which confirmed that they were being owed the said money.
While congratulating the minister on his appointment by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the consultants said all efforts to get their money had not been fruitful hence their call for the intervention of Barrister Wike to help them out.
The plea for intervention addressed to the FCT minister reads in part: “We humbly wish to bring to your notice our plight as consultants who carried out training services on behalf of the FCT Area Council Service Commission since 2020.
“Having carried out these services, we have continually made frantic efforts for our payment to be effected. Unfortunately, as we speak, the subject file has been on the table of the Permanent Secretary FCT, having been approved for payment by the former Honourable Minister Alhaji Mohammed Musa Bello.
“It will interest you, sir, that out of frustration, we, the 44 consultants, had written to the permanent secretary FCT, the FCT former Minister of State, the Senate Committee on FCT as well as the former President Muhammadu Buhari for their intervention. Some newspaper publications (Leadership newspapers of 1st February 2022. Page 48, Vanguard newspaper 2nd January 2023 Page 40) drew the attention of the then Honourable Minister who set up an investigative committee under the supervision of the Director FCT Audit to investigate and report back.
“The report of the committee conveyed the recommendation for the payment of (Four Hundred and Eight Million Naira) N408,000,000 only. This was graciously approved by the Honourable Minister for immediate payment by the FCT Administration. The details are contained in the relevant file titled “Leadership Investigation Report On Unpaid Consultants Of FCT Area Council Service Commission.
“We humbly wish to appeal for your urgent intervention to effect the payment, as the inability/refusal to effect the payment has brought about untold hardships on our families.
“We have been unable to meet up with a number of family responsibilities. Most painful of all these is that, we have lost two of our members while in the struggle for payment of our rightful claims”.
