Anambra govt promises to find solution to N900m unpaid diesel contracts

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Street light contractors at the government house Awka

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By Madu Obi

The Anambra State government has promised to find a solution to the complaint of some contractors who said they were not paid after supplying diesel for powering street lights in the state between March and April, 2022.

Some of the contractors were at the Government House, Awka on Thursday to request for Governor Chukwuma Soludo's intervention in the matter, claiming that they were owed about N900 million.

Addressing them, the Chief of Staff to the governor, Ernest Ezeajughi, said that as a solution government, the matter will be looked into, assuring that if it is true that they have not been paid, something has to be done.

He, however, urged them to be patient, to enable government determine the true situation so as to avoid double payment since the contractors admitted that some of them have been paid.

He added that the issue should not raise any dust since they are members of the APGA family and commended them for their peaceful disposition.

One of the contractors, Hon Nnaemeka Oraka, while briefing the Chief of Staff earlier, said they became worried seven people out of 71 of them were paid, leaving the rest in frustration.

He said: "We were street light contractors from the Willie Obiano administration till the handover to Governor Soludo on March 17, 2022. Obiano paid us last in February 2022 because we were paid at the end of every month. We used our money to source for the diesel and the Ministry of Local Government which was in charge, was paying us promptly.

"After the handover, we were encouraged to continue because Governor Soludo wanted the streets to remain bright at night as usual. At the end of March, there were no payments and on April 13, 2022, the new Commissioner for Local Government met with us and urged us to continue.

In May of the same year, we were asked to stop. The fueling of the generators continued in June and those suppliers were paid, while the supplies for March and April had remained outstanding."

He said that their demand for the payment has no political motive, stating that they are APGA members.

" We are all ardent supporters of APGA and I even hosted His Excellency in Nimo immediately after he won the election.

Soludo is our choice for the November 8 governorship election and he is going to govern Anambra State for eight years", Oraka said.