2027: Prioritise Payment of Local Contractors, APC Group Urges Tinubu, Finance, Works Ministers Warns that favouring foreign contractors over indigenous firms is counterproductive

The National Forum of APC Young Professionals (NFAYP) has urged the Federal Government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intensify efforts toward clearing outstanding debts owed to indigenous contractors across the country.

The Forum also cautioned the Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun; the Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi; and the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGoF), Mr. Shamsedeen Babatunde Ogunjimi, against prioritising foreign contractors over local ones, describing such an approach as counterproductive.
The appeal follows the prolonged standoff between the Federal Government and indigenous contractors nationwide. In the last quarter of 2025, contractors staged a series of protests over unpaid debts for projects executed and commissioned under the 2024 budget.
During the protests, contractors barricaded the main entrances to the National Assembly and the Ministry of Finance for several weeks, demanding the payment of more than ₦4 trillion owed for projects completed in the previous year.
In a statement issued on Sunday evening and signed by its National Chairman, Engr. Lukman Adejobi, and Secretary, Dr. Godwin Lukas, the NFAYP lamented the Federal Government’s failure to honour its commitments despite several interventions.
“Despite the interventions of the National Assembly in October and the Presidential Committee set up by our dear President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in December 2025, the Ministers and the Attorney-General of the Federation have refused to clear the arrears,” the Forum stated.
“They made some payments, but to a large extent, over ₦2 trillion is still outstanding, according to our findings. This non-payment of debts owed to indigenous contractors is seriously affecting us politically, aside from its economic implications,” the statement added.
The Forum further accused the Federal Government of insincerity in meeting its obligations to local contractors, many of whom reportedly took loans to execute their contracts. According to the group, the delays have weakened the contractors’ credit profiles and forced some companies into bankruptcy.
“We, the members of the National Forum of APC Young Professionals (NFAYP), find this situation very harmful to our economy. It also has the potential to affect the outcome of the 2027 general elections, which our party stands a good chance of winning across the board,” the Forum warned.
The group noted that many indigenous contractors are politically exposed, have families and friends involved in politics, and in some cases are grassroots politicians themselves.
“What the Ministers and the Attorney-General do not realise is that these local contractors have the right to support any candidate in the coming elections. If they are not paid what is owed to them, how can they be happy with the APC? How can they mobilise for 2027? What if they decide to work against the APC because of how they are being treated?” the statement queried.
The Forum recalled that while the government cited a lack of funds and appropriated ₦1.8 trillion in the 2026 budget to clear outstanding payments for 2024 capital projects executed by indigenous contractors, foreign contractors were still being paid.
“You are paying foreign contractors while asking local ones to wait. How do you expect indigenous contractors to feel? These same local contractors will be the ones to stand for you during elections. No foreigner can decide votes in Nigeria. If we fail to treat our own people right, we will bear the consequences when the time comes,” the Forum stressed.
The NFAYP therefore called on the Federal Government to take urgent and decisive steps to settle the debts owed to indigenous contractors. It also appealed to the contractors to suspend their planned protests in January and allow the Federal Government additional time to clear the outstanding obligations from the 2024 budget.