The House of Representatives has asked the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, to tender evidence of N2.4 trillion paid to contractors as approved by the Federal Government.

The Deputy Speaker, Rep. Benjamin Kalu disclosed this known in an interview with newsmen after a meeting with local contractors in Abuja. The meeting was part of ongoing engagements by the house to intervene and address the lingering protest of contractors over unpaid funds for contracts executed.

Kalu said that the demand became necessary as some local contractors complained of not being paid outstanding debts.

“We invited the bureaucrats, and and they confirmed that about N2.4 trillion was approved for payment. Out of this amount; they have paid up, leaving only N160 billion unpaid.

“It is commendable that this government approved such an amount of money. It is a great step towards the right direction and I thank the President through the Minister of Finance.

“They affirmed an extra N760 billion approved to take care of what is outstanding, which will the total to about N3.1 trillion.

“But I sent a clear charge to the Accountant-General’s office to give us the spreadsheet of those they have paid; we need to see how the government has paid N2.4 trillion and see people who are still standing on the sheet.

According to Kalu, failure to clear the issue does not project a good image for the government.

“How can we pay N2.4 trillion into the system and the same contractors are on the street? We want to verify and investigate whether those claiming payment are truly the ones that executed the contracts,” he added.

“I also gave a clear charge to the contractors to ensure that what the government is paying for a job well done.

“We told them it would be wickedness to claim that a hospital has been built when lives are being lost because there is no facility, or that schools have been built when children are still learning under trees. The same applies to roads and farm roads. If these claims are false, post-harvest losses will continue because farmers cannot transport produce to cities,” he said.

He assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would continue to put pressure on the executive to honour its obligations while also holding contractors accountable for quality service delivery.