The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has refuted claims that he awarded contracts worth N5 billion to local contractors, insisting that such allegations are baseless.
“No contract was awarded to any of the local contractors by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike. If they have documents showing award of contracts by the Minister, they should produce them,” Wike’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, said in a statement on Monday, August 18, 2025.
According to Olayinka, in December 2023, a bill of about N10 billion was presented to the Minister as outstanding payment for jobs executed by local contractors before he assumed office. The contractors reportedly tagged the projects as “Shopping” or Minor Procurement.
“In the same December 2023, payment of over N5 billion was approved by the Minister, and this was made immediately,” Olayinka explained.
He added that in January 2024, another tranche of over N5 billion was paid, thereby clearing the over N10 billion outstanding bills.
However, Olayinka revealed that three months later, another bill of over N15 billion was presented as outstanding payment on the same Minor Procurement.
“Then, the Minister raised questions as to who approved the contracts, because he didn’t award such contracts,” Olayinka said.
“How can you claim to have carried out jobs worth over N15 billion within three months, without the approval of the Minister? How can you accumulate over N15 billion debt on contracts within three months?” he queried.
He noted that the figures being bandied about had since shifted inconsistently.
“From N15 billion to N8 billion and now N5 billion, the question is, on whose authority were the contracts awarded? Those are the questions they have to answer first,” Olayinka stressed.
