Economic Sabotage: National/State Assemblies to Enact Laws to Tackle Non Payment of Salaries, Executed Contracts, Service Providers, Non Remittance of Pensions by MDAS, other Organizations

By Nwankwo Charles U…

Research has shown that some Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of Government including Federal and State tertiary institutions (Universities, Polytechnics and colleges of Education), and some Companies decline to pay Service Providers, Contractors and Suppliers, after satisfactorily executing contracts awarded to them by these establishments.

In almost all the cases these contracts were awarded in observance of all due diligence, and execution of all necessary contract papers by both parties (institutions and contractors).

It is on record that many Contractors/Service Providers have suffered untold hardship due to these withheld payments; since most of them borrow money from banks or other financial institutions to execute these jobs.

As a result of their inability to repay or service these loans as at when due, some of the concerned Contractors have lost their lives or been inflicted by life threatening ailments like high blood pressure, stroke or mental disorder as they are unable to meet up with family needs and social obligations.

Investigations reveal that these Contractors, Service Providers, and Suppliers are owed trillions of naira across the Country and over the years. These debts are passed on from one administration to another, and it is discovered that the Administrators of the affected Institutions instead of offsetting these accumulated debts by their predecessors, go ahead to award new ones thereby abandoning the Contractors/Service Providers to their fate. This should not be so, as it is said that government is a continuum.

Present administrators should call up the necessary contract papers, and confirm if the jobs were actually executed, after all the officers responsible for those contracts are still in service. After due confirmation, the Contractors and Service Providers should be paid. That is EQUITY AND FAIRNESS.

The deliberate owing of Contractors and Service Providers is highly condemnable considering the fact that these contracts were awarded in accordance with budgetary provisions. One may ask what then happens to the money provided for in the budget.

Some administrators have been accused of diverting these monies to other uses or out rightly embezzling them in connivance with some fraudulent officers in their respective establishments.

In the light of the serious negative consequences this unwholesome practice creates in the society, it should be deemed as an economic sabotage because of the deadly blow it gives to the Nigerian economy; since many people are thrown into poverty by denying them access to their legitimate earnings, and the attendant multiplier effect the monies would have added to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Another unpleasant development which has been observed is the delay and/or refusal of some private Companies to pay salaries to their employees. It seems this one affects most legislators who own Companies in Nigeria; that explains why they show I-don’t-care-attitude to this sacrilegious practice which can never happen in a sane society.

Some of these establishments even deduct contributory pensions from their employees without remitting same to their Pension Administrators.

As a result many employees who retire hoping to be paid their pensions and gratuities, to their chagrin discover that they don’t have any money to collect just loose hope and die to the detriment of their families.

In order to checkmate this unbecoming practice, the National and State Assembles are called upon to enact laws that will make it a criminal offence with stringent punishment for any establishment and executives who fail or delay to pay for a properly executed contract.

Also it should also be a criminal and punishable offence for any establishment both public and private not to pay salaries to their employees as at when due. Employees need to be protected and enabled by law.

The Nigerian Pension Commission (PENCOM) should be empowered to effectively monitor the compliance of establishments in remitting deducted contributory pension funds of their employees to their relevant Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).

Equally, the pension Fund Administrators should be made to pay pensioners in a 100% lump sum, so that they can effectively engage in any small scale business of their choice. This will definitely add value to their lives and also boost our economy.

ALL HANDS SHOULD BE ON DECK TO MAKE NIGERIA A BETTER PLACE FOR ALL OF US.

Nwankwo Charles U.