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The Federal Government has assured public servants that the outstanding wage award will be paid before the middle of August, while promotion arrears are being processed as part of ongoing efforts to fulfil its commitments to workers.

The assurance was given by the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, during a meeting with the leadership of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), Trade Side, led by its National President, Comrade Kabiru Ado Minjibir.

The Minister said government had already commenced work on many of the issues presented by the Council even before receiving its formal communication, adding that the administration remains committed to resolving legitimate labour concerns through constructive engagement.

“When government makes commitments, it delivers. We are not in the habit of making promises that cannot be fulfilled. Where there are outstanding issues, we will give realistic timelines and ensure they are implemented,” the Minister said.

He disclosed that the necessary release for payment of the outstanding wage award was being concluded and expressed confidence that eligible public servants would begin receiving the payment before the middle of the month.

The Minister also assured the delegation that promotion arrears were receiving the required attention, with the outstanding batches being processed in line with established procedures.

He directed officials to immediately review all documents presented by the Council, work with the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies, and accelerate action on all outstanding matters requiring government intervention.

Oyedele acknowledged the concerns expressed by organised labour over delays in implementing some agreements but assured the delegation that the Federal Government would continue to strengthen trust through openness, regular consultation and prompt action.

“Our objective is to build a system where issues are resolved proactively. We want workers to have confidence that once government gives its word, it will honour that commitment,” he said.

Earlier, the National President of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), Trade Side, Comrade Kabiru Ado Minjibir, commended the Minister for receiving the delegation and appealed for the speedy resolution of pending labour issues, including the outstanding wage award, promotion arrears, salary relativity concerns affecting health workers and other matters affecting public servants.

He said timely implementation of the outstanding commitments would further strengthen industrial harmony and boost workers’ confidence in government’s resolve to address their welfare.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Raymond Omachi, reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to working closely with organised labour to ensure that approved workers’ entitlements are processed and released without avoidable delays.

He said the Ministry would continue to engage relevant government institutions to fast track the resolution of outstanding labour issues, stressing that constructive dialogue remains the most effective path to sustaining industrial harmony.

The Permanent Secretary, Special Duties, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mohammed Sanusi Danjuma, assured the labour delegation that government was making steady progress in addressing outstanding workers’ entitlements.

He disclosed that Batch 7 promotion arrears, which was inadvertently omitted during the earlier payment exercise, is now being processed alongside Batch 9, expressing confidence that beneficiaries would begin receiving their payments once processing is completed.

Danjuma further stated that the Federal Government is working assiduously to address the issue of the Peculiar Allowance and other outstanding labour related matters in collaboration with the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

Providing an update on the payment process, the Director, Cash Management Department, Federal Ministry of Finance, Christiana Osho, disclosed that reconciliation for the outstanding wage award had been completed and that the payment release was at its final stage.

She explained that once the release is effected, eligible public servants will begin receiving the outstanding wage award, while processing of the outstanding promotion arrears continues in line with the approved schedule.

Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to sustained dialogue and collaboration to ensure the timely resolution of outstanding labour issues and the continued promotion of industrial harmony across the Federal Public Service.

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The Managing Director, Divine Dopacy Nigeria Limited, Gbenga Collins, has informed the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee that he paid N400 million to the purported Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, Adeniyi Adeyemi, after allegedly being promised a contract to renovate and furnish what was presented as the official residence of the DG.

This revelation comes amid the ongoing investigation into the alleged establishment and operations of the agency.

Narrating the ordeal before the committee on Tuesday, Collins noted that he believed the PFIPC was a genuine Federal Government institution because Adeyemi operated from an office in the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, moved with security personnel and official vehicles bearing government number plates, and received visitors in what appeared to be an authentic government office.

Collins, a graduate of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, said he first met Adeyemi, whom he described as a fellow indigene of Ogbomoso, during a programme in their hometown in December 2024.

According to him, Adeyemi later invited him to Abuja in early 2025 to discuss a business opportunity.

“When I arrived at the airport, he sent an official car to come and pick me up from the airport to his office at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja.

“When I got to his office, I met him there. He is a well-known man in Ogbomoso. I met a lot of people, very big dignitaries in his office, and I met a group of security officers guarding the office,” he said.

Collins said Adeyemi introduced himself as the Director-General of both the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the PFIPC.

He told lawmakers that it was his first visit to Abuja and that the official setting gave him no reason to question Adeyemi’s claims.

“I saw police officers with him. That was my first time coming to Abuja because I’m not familiar with Abuja very well.

He sent his official car to pick me up from the airport. It had a Federal Government registration number attached to the Lexus SUV,” he said.

Collins said Adeyemi later informed him that he had been allocated an official residence as the DG and wanted his (Collins’) company to handle its renovation and furnishing.

According to him, Adeyemi personally took him to inspect the property.

“He told me that he wanted to do refurbishment and renovation of the official house assigned to him as the DG of that agency and asked whether I would be able to handle the contract.

“He took me to the house to show me the property because I slept in Abuja. We went there the following day with his staff.

” We went with more than four, five or six vehicles with security.

“They opened the house and took us round, showing me what they wanted to do,” Collins added.

He said discussions continued until April 2025 when Adeyemi allegedly handed him a contract award letter, scope of work and an agreement between the purported council and his company.

Collins told the committee that he was informed he needed to pay N400m to demonstrate his company’s financial capacity and facilitate mobilisation for the contract.

“He gave me the contract award letter, the scope of work and the agreement with my company to execute the refurbishment project.

“I had to pay N400m for the facilitation of that project to show my strength that I would be able to handle the project. At the same time, he said it would fast-track the mobilisation for the contract,” he said.

The businessman disclosed that he raised the money from business associates who trusted him because he had personally visited Adeyemi’s office.

According to him, N380m was paid in four instalments between May and June 2025 into a Guaranty Trust Bank account belonging to World Entrepreneurs Limited, while the balance of N20m was paid on July 29, 2025, into an Access Bank account belonging to Sunshine Confectionery and Catering Services.

“When I was paying the money, I kept telling him that I collected the money from my colleagues who were doing business with me.

“I was the one who told them I had gone to this man’s office, so I believed it was going to be a great opportunity for us. That was why people started giving me the money,” Collins said.

He said Adeyemi repeatedly assured him that mobilisation for the project would commence in August 2025, but the promise never materialised.

“When I finished the payment, he said they were going to do the mobilisation by August,” he said.

Collins said subsequent explanations centred on security concerns before fresh assurances were given that payment would be made in November.

“I continued calling him. He kept managing me, telling me they were handling security issues and that they would pay in November,” he added.

The witness said he became suspicious after repeated attempts to reach Adeyemi failed and later consulted a lawyer in Abuja.

“My lawyer was the first person who told me that I had been scammed,” he told the committee.

He disclosed that his lawyer petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on November 13, 2025, and that he adopted the petition six days later.

“The petition was written on the 13th, and I was invited to adopt it on the 19th,” he said.

He added that investigators later informed him that Adeyemi repeatedly failed to honour invitations from the EFCC, allegedly citing ill health through his lawyer.

“Since then, the EFCC has been trying to invite him. I think he has been sending his lawyer. According to the Investigating Police Officer handling the case, his lawyer kept saying he would appear.

“Since then, I have not heard anything further, but they are on top of the matter. The EFCC will be in the best position to handle the rest,” Collins said.

Appealing to lawmakers, the businessman said the incident had ruined his business and forced him to dispose of personal assets.

“I just want to beg the Chairman and the honourable members to help me talk to all the agencies involved because I have been frustrated, especially by those people who gave me the money. I have started selling my property. My business is not going well again,” he lamented.

He maintained that he acted in good faith because everything surrounding Adeyemi suggested he was dealing with a genuine government official.

“I did all this based on trust. When I went to his office, I met a lot of big dignitaries there, people waiting to see him and people he was discussing contracts with. I also did it because he is from my hometown,” Collins said.

During the hearing, committee chairman Yusuf Gagdi asked Collins whether the N400m amounted to a bribe paid to secure the contract.

The witness rejected the suggestion, insisting that the payment was presented to him as a prerequisite for facilitating and mobilising the contract.

Lawmakers also asked whether he complied with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act before accepting the purported contract.

Collins admitted that he did not follow any formal procurement process.

“What I just have to say is to beg the committee, or to implore the committee, to please, in all their capacity, whatever they can use to assist me with the police that are investigating him because I was invited to the Cybercrime office. He said the same thing, that he did not deny collecting the N400m,” he told lawmakers.

He also confirmed that the money was never converted to United States dollars before it was transferred.

Responding to questions over Adeyemi’s absence from the public hearing, the committee chairman, Gagdi, disclosed that lawmakers would question Adeyemi at an undisclosed date and location to avoid interfering with ongoing investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and the police.

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Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has alleged that more than 60 Accord Party leaders were arrested and transferred to prisons in Abuja and Nasarawa despite the existence of federal and state courts in Osun.

The governor made the allegation on Wednesday at a peace summit in Osogbo ahead of the August 15 governorship election.

According to a statement posted on his X page, Adeleke said his government and supporters had been “under siege and attacks for the past three months” and accused former governor and Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, of being behind the violence.

“I should have boycotted this peace meeting because of the violence unleashed on Osun State in the last few months, on the directive of Gboyega Oyetola,” he said.

“Our gathering is to endorse peace but my government and people are facing police-sanctioned violence and intimidation.”

The governor also accused the Osun police command of supporting attacks on his supporters.

“More than 60 Accord leaders have been arrested and moved to Abuja, and remanded in Abuja prisons and Nasarawa State prisons, including an Accord candidate for House of Representatives, Hon Alaba,” he said.

“Why Abuja? We have both the Federal High Court and State High Courts in Osun State, where anyone can be arraigned.”

The governor further alleged that the Secretary to the State Government, Teslim Igbalaye, was arrested on “trumped up charges” after police raided his residence without a court-authorised warrant.

Adeleke said eight party members had been killed and more than 20 injured in recent attacks, adding that no suspect had been prosecuted.

“There is no single prosecution or active arrest till date.

The perpetrators are known Osun APC thugs with crimes committed in the presence of the police,” he said.

He called on the Inspector-General of Police to return those in custody to Osun and charge them in courts within the state if any offence had been committed.

“Those remanded in prisons should be returned to Osun State, and be charged to courts in Osun State, if the police can show that they have committed any crime,” he said.

Adeleke also appealed to President Bola Tinubu to caution Oyetola and the Osun commissioner of police against “unleashing further violence on the people”.

The allegations come after police arrested Igbalaye and five others over alleged vote-buying.

Spokesperson Abiodun Ojelabi said N4.8 million and other electoral materials were recovered from a residence linked to the SSG.

Political tension has intensified in Osun ahead of the governorship election, with Accord and APC supporters exchanging accusations and verbal attacks.