Ayoni M. Agbabiaka
Abuja
A lingering N4 billion outstanding debts portfolio has pitted the Federal Emergency Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and the Association of Indigenous Contractors in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), putting further road rehabilitation jobs in the FCT at risk.
At a parley with the press last weekend, members of the association threatened a showdown with the federal government road maintenance agency if concrete steps are not taken to liquidate the debts which represent jobs done since 2012.
Vice chairman of the association, Alhaji Mohammed Musa, however enjoined the members to sheet their swords, promising that the leadership of the association is exploring all available options to make FERMA fulfill its contractual agreement with the contractors.
The local contractors regretted that despite assurances given to them, the management of FERMA is yet to expedite action in the payment of the debts owed them.
The contractors had threatened to march to the FERMA head office in Abuja and to the National Assembly to protest the non-payment of their monies long after the completion of their various contracts.
Musa explained that the current security challenges facing the country does not permit such extreme actions as the planned protest may the hijacked by unscrupulous elements to cause public disaffection. He said however that it the public protest becomes the last option, the association may consider it.
He therefore tasked the management of FERMA to fast track the payment to its members as most of them have suffered untold hardship following the continued nonpayment of the contractors.
According to him, many of the members have fallen into bad times with financial institutions where they borrowed funds at exorbitant interest rates. “Most of our members have been forced to forgo the collaterals they placed as guarantees. Others have sold their properties to be able to barley service the debts,” he said.
He noted that while road construction is one of the pivotal elements of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda, it is regrettable that the agency of government is taking the credit of the labour of its members without paying for the jobs done.
