Contractors seal off FHA over N750m debt

There was a protest at the headquarters of the Federal Housing Authority on Tuesday in Abuja, with about 50 contractors blocking the main gate over the authority’s indebtedness estimated at N750m.

The protest which started at about 12pm continued till 2pm. However, the angry contractors sat down at the gate and vowed that they would not leave until the management attended to them.

A police officer who tried to disallow them from forcefully gaining entrance into the premises was molested before he was rescued by his colleagues.

Many of the protesters carried placards with inscriptions, including; ‘FHA, we are tired of empty promises’; ‘Partnership is a fraud, pay us our money now’ ‘No payment, no partnership’, and ‘Pay us our money now’, among others.

The Chairman, FHA Contractors Union, Mr. Innocent Odika, led the protest and blocked the main entrance of the organisation, sitting down on a stool.

He said, “We are pleading with the management of the FHA to pay us our money which has been owed since 2010. Since then, people have been dying and many of us can’t pay our children’s school fees. Many of the big fishes in this country have acquired the houses we are talking about. Some of those houses we are talking about, as in Lagos, have been occupied. Why won’t they pay us our money?

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“The houses are located severally in Lagos and Apo (Abuja) where they are already undergoing numbering. We were told some people have shared the money which is about N750m at various sites. Some of us borrowed money from banks. Can we continue this way in this country? We are not leaving here until they come down and address us and tell us when they are going to pay us our money.

“We are more than 500 people but some of them could not come for the protest because they don’t have money. Some of our colleagues are in Lagos and they can’t come. The banks are now dragging us people because we took loans.”

But the FHA’s General Manager (Finance), Col. Rufus Adejoro (retd.), told the aggrieved protesters that management would look into the matter for a possible resolution.

“We are not enemies; we are all friends. We are looking into your grievances and we need to meet with your executives now and at the end of the day, they will brief you. Just cool your temper and please don’t let us create sensation. All is well! We are feeling your impact and we know what you are passing through. We need to have a meeting with your executives; it is very important.”

As at the time of this report, the management of the FHA had commenced an emergency closed-door meeting with the executives of the contractors union.

Meanwhile, journalists were not allowed to be in the meeting.

The spokesperson for the FHA, Mr. Tunde Ipinmisho, told The PUNCH that he would be attending the meeting.

But efforts to get the outcome of the meeting from him were unsuccessful as his telephone number was switched off.