By NEFISHETU YAKUBU

African Democratic Congress (ADC) has expressed concern over the plights of local contractors and pensioners in the country.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, expressed the concern in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday.

The News Agency of Nigeria NAN reports that the Coalition of Federal Pensioners of Nigeria had threatened to embark on a nationwide naked protest on Dec. 8 over non-payment of its members’ outstanding pension increment arrears and palliative allowances.

NAN also reports that local contractors, under the aegis of All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria (AICAN), had equally staged a peaceful protest at the entrances of the Federal Ministry of Finance over alleged continued delay in payments for completed and inaugurated projects.

Abdullahi, in the statement, said that the party might be compelled to join the protests by local contractors and pensioners nationwide if nothing was done to address the situation.

Abdullahi particularly decried the plights of the contractors camping at the Finance Ministry to demand for payment for the work done.

“We also stand in solidarity with pensioners threatening to march naked in protest if the federal government fails to pay long-overdue arrears owed to them,” he said.

The ADC spokesman questioned why contractors were still owed over N500 billion for completed projects if national finances remained strong, as claimed by government officials.

He queried why pensioners had continued to wait for increments and palliatives approved for them more than a year ago.

Abdullahi said that the party was prepared to march in solidarity with the affected groups if nothing urgent was done to address the situation. (NAN)

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