Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi Blames Centralized Payment System for Stalling Capital Projects

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has stated that the centralized contract payment system of the federal government is delaying the execution of capital projects across various ministries, departments, and agencies.

Fagbemi made this known on Wednesday while defending the 2026 budget proposal of his ministry before the Senate Committee on Judiciary.

The minister criticized the current setup where the Federal Ministry of Finance handles payments for capital projects executed by other government bodies.

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He described the ongoing process as highly cumbersome and inefficient. He recommended that the government return to the previous system where funds were released directly to the respective ministries to pay their contractors.

“The old system is better because you don’t need to know anybody before your allocation is released,” Fagbemi told the lawmakers. The current system of centralised system of payment is plagued with so many difficulties; I don’t want to say complexities,” he added.

During the defense, Fagbemi revealed that the Ministry of Justice recorded zero performance in the capital component of its 2025 budget.

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He explained that although N869 million was released, it was not cash-backed. The delay in releasing funds and the bureaucratic bottlenecks led President Bola Tinubu to approve the rollover of 70 percent of the capital allocation to the 2026 fiscal year.

Adeniyi Adegbonmire, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, agreed with the minister and expressed his concerns over the delays in the release of funds.

“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 stated.

“Where the justice sector is delayed or is hamstrung through bureaucratic bottlenecks, then the system is put under pressure. So, it is very important that we have an organisation, a process that responds speedily to the demands of the justice sector,” the chairman explained.