Justice Minister Faults FG On Centralised Contract Payment System
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has faulted the centralised contract payment system adopted by the Federal Government.
Fagbemi described the system as counterproductive, arguing that each Ministry, Department and Agency (MDA) must be allowed to pay for capital projects awarded by them and satisfactorily executed.
The Justice Minister spoke on Wednesday while appearing before the Senate Committee on Judiciary to defend his ministry’s 2026 budget projections.
The federal government had a few years ago, centralised the contract payment system, making the Ministry of Finance the only authorised body to pay for capital projects executed by the various MDAs.
Fagbemi urged a revert to the old system in which the Ministry of Finance released funds to individual MDAs to pay for capital projects executed on their behalf.
He described the jettisoned system as more efficient and less cumbersome.
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“The old system is better because you don’t need to know anybody before your allocation is released,” the minister said.
According to him, the current centralised payment structure, managed by the Ministry of Finance, is fraught with so many difficulties.
He noted that the arrangement has significantly hampered project implementation across the various MDAs.
The minister told the Senate committee that the Ministry of Justice got zero release from the capital component of its 2025 budgets.
He disclosed that although N869 million was reportedly released to the ministry, the funds were not cash-backed.
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Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Adeniyi Adegbonmire, expressed concern over the delays.
He said the Senate was worried by the zero capital release across MDAs in the 2025 budgets, and also faulted the centralised payment system.
“A number of us share that opinion that the old system is better, because the delay is dangerous, especially when it affects the justice sector, which is at the heart of our social coalition,” Adegbonmire said.
He warned that bureaucratic bottlenecks in funding the justice sector could put the entire system under strain, stressing the need for a responsive and efficient funding process to meet the sector’s crucial demands.
