Osun airport: Pay us owed N570.2m or face us in court, contractor tells state govt

Contractors handling the Moshood Abiola International Airport, Osogbo, JM & AS Limited, have threatened to sue the Osun State government if they are not paid the N570.2 million being owed them.

They stated this in a letter written to Governor Gboyega Oyetola by their counsel Mr J. J. Usman (SAN).

The contractors wrote the state government after the airport project was handed over to the Nigeria Airforce by the government.

According to the contractors, various efforts to get the government pay the owed sum proved abortive, forcing them to abandon the project in 2017.

They however said it was illegal to hand over the site to the Nigeria Airforce while they still had an existing contract with the state government.

They gave the state government two weeks to meet their demands or they would be forced to drag the government to court.

“It is instructive to note that the sum due to our client and outstanding debt has remained unpaid after several demands, leading our client to vacate the site since it became impossible for our client to continue with the work owing to the failure and refusal of the government to pay the outstanding debt.

“Our client further informed us that having served the government notices of intention to vacate the site due to government failure to pay, they indeed vacated the site sometimes in 2017.

“While our client was waiting for the government to comply with the terms of the contract by paying for Certificates Nos 4 and 5, and to enable them return to site and continue with their work, the state government has curiously and purportedly re-awarded the contract or handed-over the site to a different company other than Awol International Limited as contained in the MoU despite the subsisting of the contract of our client, which has not been terminated.

“It is our client’s instruction to us to demand and we hereby demand from you the following: The immediate payment of our client’s outstanding balance of N570,231,101.94 being the balance for the interim Certificate No. 4 and Interim Certificate No. 5 outstanding as contained in the final account.

“And also your government to provide the enabling environment for our client to mobilise back to site as our client’s contract is still subsisting and our client is willing, able and capable of completing the construction of the Moshood Abiola International Airport Osogbo, Osun State,” the letter said.