Federal Government has said that the conversion of its financial statement from the cash accounting to the international Public Sector Accounting Standards have resulted into an unrecorded liability of N2.2tn to contractors.
Those owed the huge amount are contractors such as oil marketers, exporters, electricity distribution companies and others.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, stated this while at the annual dinner of the Lagos Business School in Lagos.
She said the liabilities would be addressed with a ten year Promissory Note Issuance programme in conjunction with the Central Bank of Nigeria (1).
The measure, she noted, would be subjected to a rigorous audit process of all claims to ensure validity and mitigate against fraud and the impact of past corrupt practices (2).
Adeosun who represented the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, at the event, warned that henceforth, measures would be put in place to prevent recurrence of such a problem.
She cited the fact that many contractors were owed because many of those recently paid by Government were slow in mobilising to site.
She said, “Some contractors had not been paid in the past four years and in some cases the banks they owed refused them access to the funds released, causing delays.”
She explained further that those receiving the Promissory Notes would be expected to provide a material discount to government (3).
The issuance, she noted, would be a solution to a long term problem that was a drag on economic activity.
Those owed the huge amount are contractors such as oil marketers, exporters, electricity distribution companies and others.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, stated this while at the annual dinner of the Lagos Business School in Lagos.
She said the liabilities would be addressed with a ten year Promissory Note Issuance programme in conjunction with the Central Bank of Nigeria (1).
The measure, she noted, would be subjected to a rigorous audit process of all claims to ensure validity and mitigate against fraud and the impact of past corrupt practices (2).
Adeosun who represented the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, at the event, warned that henceforth, measures would be put in place to prevent recurrence of such a problem.
She cited the fact that many contractors were owed because many of those recently paid by Government were slow in mobilising to site.
She said, “Some contractors had not been paid in the past four years and in some cases the banks they owed refused them access to the funds released, causing delays.”
She explained further that those receiving the Promissory Notes would be expected to provide a material discount to government (3).
The issuance, she noted, would be a solution to a long term problem that was a drag on economic activity.
