Tinubu Constitutes 7-man Inter-ministerial Committee To Resolve N4trn Debt Owed 2,000 Contractors

* FEC okays new industrial policy, 200 electric buses for NADDC, BoI HQ, Lekki infrastructure projects

* Approves major upgrades of navigational, communication systems across airports

* Keyamo: Govt has no legal right to regulate or fix air fares

Deji Elumoye in Abuja 

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday constituted a seven-man inter-ministerial committee to resolve the age-long backlog of payments estimated at about N4 trillion owed no fewer than 2,000 contractors.

Presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, made this public while briefing newsmen after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Tinubu at the Council Chambers of the State House in Abuja.

Onanuga said the president received a fresh briefing on the scale and implications of the outstanding obligations and subsequently directed a coordinated solution.

He described the Tinubu’s engagement with ministers as “a very productive discussion,” noting that the accumulation of debts had created bottlenecks and slowed service delivery across critical sectors.

To tackle the issue comprehensively, he said the president has approved a multi-ministerial mechanism to verify claims, reconcile records and recommend sustainable financing options for clearing the backlog.

According to the presidential aide, the committee comprises of Ministers of Finance; Budget and Economic Planning; Works; Education; Housing and Urban Development; Director-General of the Budget Office and Executive Chairman of the

Nigeria Revenue Service.

“These ministers and senior officials are expected to sit together, harmonise data, and develop a comprehensive solution that will determine how and when the outstanding payments will be settled,” Onanuga said.

He added that President Tinubu is determined to restore order, transparency and credibility to the contractor-payment system, ensuring that only genuine claims are honoured while irregularities are eliminated.

Answering reporters’ questions, Onanuga said the president’s directive reflects a decisive shift from merely diagnosing the causes of the recurring problem to finally resolving it.

“We have gone beyond finding reasons or blaming anyone. The question now is: what is responsible for this persistent problem, and how do we solve it?” he said.

Onanuga stressed that as a sovereign nation, Nigeria must honour its legitimate obligations, but insisted that payments must follow proper verification and due process.

He disclosed that the committee held its inaugural meeting on Wednesday and is expected to submit recommendations soon.

“By the time the committee sits fully, I believe we will have clearer answers and a pathway to resolving all outstanding liabilities,” the presidential media aide explained.

The fresh move came amid mounting pressure from contractors who claim the Federal Government owes them over N4 trillion for completed projects, a situation that has triggered multiple protests at the Ministry of Finance and the National Assembly in recent months.

Many of the affected contractors said the prolonged non-payment has pushed them into severe financial distress, leading to loan defaults, loss of property, deteriorating health and in some cases, deaths.

Although the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, had before now announced a structured pathway for settling the debts on the president’s directive, the contractors insisted that less than one per cent of verified claims have been paid.

Also on Wednesday, FEC approved five major memoranda from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, including Nigeria’s long-awaited Industrial Policy 2025, the procurement of electric buses, and key infrastructure projects in Lagos.

Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Senator John Owan Enoh, who briefed reporters after the meeting, said three of the approved submissions fall under industry, while two relate to trade and investment.

Enoh disclosed that one of the approvals includes the supply of 200 electric buses to the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), which will strengthen Nigeria’s automotive development agenda and accelerate the country’s shift to cleaner mobility.

He added that the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) had reviewed and approved the contract sum of N58 billion, stressing that the selected contractor has a verifiable track record in local electric vehicle assembly, consistent with the government’s Nigeria First procurement policy.

Council also approved N187.8 billion for the design and construction of the Bank of Industry (BoI) headquarters at Eko Atlantic City, Lagos. 

The minister said the project aligns with the bank’s expanding mandate in national industrialisation.

Describing it as “the most significant approval of the day”, Enoh announced that FEC has formally adopted the Nigerian Industrial Policy 2025, a document developed and validated with national and international partners, including the UNDP.

His words: “I am glad that at today’s council meeting, the Nigerian Industrial Policy was finally approved. It now becomes a public document that will guide industrial growth and development.”

The policy, he noted, aligns with President Tinubu’s Eight-Point Agenda and provides investors with a clear roadmap for Nigeria’s industrial future.

Enoh said the policy is built on five strategic pillars: Industrial infrastructure development and competitiveness; sectoral diversification and value-chain development; investment promotion and business-environment reforms, Innovation, technology and digital industrialisation; sustainability, green growth and climate resilience.

He added that the document includes targeted interventions such as strengthening industrial clusters, improving infrastructure in special economic zones, supporting technology transfer, and boosting local content across manufacturing sectors.

Commenting on the “Nigeria First” directive mandating MDAs to patronise locally manufactured vehicles, Enoh said implementation will be gradual but is already underway.

“At the ministry, I use a Mikano vehicle; the minister uses an Innoson vehicle,” he said, noting that compliance will continue to expand across government institutions.

Under trade and investment, the minister stated that council approved the construction of internal and access roads within the Lekki Medical Tourism Park at the Lekki Free Trade Zone. 

The memo, he explained, originated from the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA).

Another approval confirmed Nigeria’s selection, after a competitive process conducted with Afreximbank, as host of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF). 

Lagos will host the event, with the refurbished National Arts Theatre (now the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts) serving as the main venue.

“This is a huge event that positions our country strongly, especially within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It reinforces Nigeria’s ambition to be the continent’s manufacturing and industrial hub,” Enoh said.

He added that the approval aligns with the Programme for Country Partnership, whose national coordination body held its inaugural meeting last week.

Also, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has clarified that the Federal Government has no legal powers to regulate or fix airfares, saying the country’s aviation industry has operated under a fully deregulated framework for several decades.

Keyamo explained that the deregulation of the aviation industry dated back to the Ibrahim Babangida administration, when private airlines were granted the freedom to operate and determine their own fare regimes.

He noted that although the Senate had invited him to discuss the recent hike in airfares, he was unable to appear due to his commitments at the FEC meeting.

The minister disclosed that he had instructed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and domestic airlines to appear before the Senate Committee in his absence.

Keyamo stressed that while the government cannot dictate prices in a free market, it remains actively engaged with airlines to address the underlying factors driving high fares.

“Government has absolutely no powers to fix prices for private enterprises. That is what deregulation means. But that does not mean we are leaving the airlines without engagement,” he said.

The minister emphasised that operators have repeatedly raised concerns about access to aircraft, unfavourable lease terms, the absence of local maintenance facilities, and the pressure to source large amounts of foreign exchange to conduct mandatory C-checks abroad factors that all feed into ticket pricing.

He disclosed that a significant milestone was achieved under the Tinubu administration when, for the first time in nearly 20 years, a major international aircraft lessor returned to the Nigerian market and granted a dry-lease arrangement to a domestic airline at a cost less than one-third of earlier industry rates.

Keyamo attributed the development to reforms introduced by the Federal Government, including new practice directions on the Cape Town Convention, which protect the rights of international lessors and boost confidence in Nigeria’s aviation environment.

“With cheaper dry leases coming in, more airlines will have access to aircraft. More aircraft automatically means stronger competition. And competition is what brings prices down in any free economy,” he said.

The minister projected that within a year, Nigerians should begin to feel the impact of increased aircraft availability, improved competition, and lower operating costs.

On the issue of multiple taxes and charges on airlines, an issue that has drawn the attention of ECOWAS, Keyamo confirmed that Nigeria had received a regional advisory urging relief for operators.

He clarified that ECOWAS lacks the authority to compel member-states on taxation matters.

According to him, aviation taxes fall under the jurisdiction of federal revenue and financial authorities, not his ministry.

“I cannot wake up one morning and abolish taxes. These revenues go into the Federation Account. The Finance Minister, the tax authorities, and other stakeholders must all be at the table,” he said.

Keyamo disclosed that he had already escalated airlines’ tax concerns to the relevant bodies, adding that both the Minister of Finance and other economic authorities were working collaboratively to review the issues.

He maintained that while government must support operators, it must also sustain the revenue necessary to maintain critical aviation infrastructure nationwide.

The minister also announced the approval of major upgrades to Nigeria’s airport navigational and communication systems, as well as series of other measures aimed at enhancing air safety, modernising infrastructure and improving passenger experience nationwide.

Keyamo said FEC endorsed the extension of CCECC’s maintenance contract for the new terminal at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport.

“These include the installation of an Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System in Lagos and Abuja to detect runway obstructions; new modular air traffic control towers for eight airports; an aeronautical frequency monitoring and interference detection system; and the upgrade of VHF radio communication systems in nine airports.

“Another one is infrastructure upgrade that has to do with navigation again, approval for the award of contract for the installation of aeronautical frequency spectrum monitor and interference detection solution that, of course, improves the communication between the ground crew, the people at the tower, and the aircraft that are approaching or taking off, and they normally guide them. 

“That is the system that guides them to approach the runway communication. So this has to do with not just the detection system, but the communication system between the tower and the pilots. We are getting new equipment, upgrade those equipments. 

“In that respect, the other one is the procurement, replacement and upgrade of the remote control, air, ground communication, total VHF radio system in nine sites, nine airports. this is also a radio system we are upgrading in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Ilorin, Abuja, Kano Abuja, that’s another part of Abuja, Maiduguri, Sokoto and Wukari airports,” he said.. 

The minister added that the president also approved the upgrade and rollout of biometric-enabled e-gates at all international airports to fast-track passenger clearance and improve travel experience.

His words: “And so we have approval for the provision of biometric enabled electronic gates, which is called the popular e-gates to fast-track passenger solution, fast-track solution at the nation’s international airports, all our international airports.”

He noted that the upgrades reflect President Tinubu’s directive to modernise aviation infrastructure and ensure safer, more efficient air travel across Nigeria.