Headlines
Nigeria’s Loss of $9.6bn: Who’s Responsible?
By Eric Elezuo
On August 16, 2019, the Nigerian government received the greatest shock of its administration when a British Court awarded over $9 billion damages against it for failing to honour a contract in a landmark judgement.
The judgment, which was delivered by Justice Butcher of The High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, ruled against Nigeria’s objection to arbitration which in 2017 settled that the Nigerian government should pay $6.6 billion as damages to a company, Process & Industrial Development Limited (P&ID). The damages and interest add up to a figure above $9 billion.
Nigeria’s former Attorney-General, Mr. Bayo Ojo, was among the three member arbitration panel that gave judgement in favour of P&ID against the Nigerian government and at the same time secured the monetary award. While Mr. Ojo tried his best to ensure that Nigeria escaped with a paltry $250 million, the majority opinion of Lord Hoffmann and Anthony Evans, the two other members of the panel, ensured that Nigeria lost the case.
Hoffmann and Evans held that P&ID’s expenditure and income should have been about $6.597 billion if the agreement was duly performed by the government. They also insisted that the award should be paid together with interest at the rate of 7 per cent from March 20, 2013.
Ever since the judgement, blames have been traded between the present All Progressives Congress (APC) administration led by Muhammadu Buhari, and previous administrations dating back to the late Umaru Musa Yar’dua era.
Leading the blame game is the returnee Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Nigeria, Mallam Abubakar Malami. The Minister, who was reappointed by President Muhammadu Buhari, few days after the judgement described the ruling as the “consequences of the underhand dealings of the past administration”.
He said: “Sadly, in spite of the spirited and concerted efforts of the current administration to combat corrupt practices and rent-seeking in all its forms, Nigerians woke up on Friday, August 16, 2019, to the rudest consequences of the underhand dealings of the past administration that has resulted in the award of $9 billion against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, by a British court which ruled that Process and Industrial Development Limited had the right to seize $9 billion in Nigerian assets.”
The lawyer went ahead and specifically fingered the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan as the culprit, saying he connived “with local and International conspirators in a bid to inflict grave economic adversity on the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the good people of Nigeria.”
Malami concluded his blame with a threat, stressing that the federal government would punish any government official whose action or inaction led to the award of $9 billion damages against Nigeria. He also promised that the government “will vigorously defend its rights to protect its people’s assets around the world against the enforcement of the judgement.”
It is worth knowing that the value of the penalty represents approximately a fifth of the country’s foreign reserves of $45bn. the fact of the case is itemised as follows:
- The agreement, which set the basis for the current legal action, was a Gas Supply and Processing Agreement signed in January 2010.
- If concluded, the deal would have offset a significant percentage of Nigeria’s energy deficit (Africa’s largest oil and gas producer has a notoriously epileptic power supply).
- P&ID claims about $40m were expended on the project, but Nigeria did not meet its obligations and cost the company billions in damages representing future profits it had lost.
- In 2013, after the deal failed, P&ID dragged the government to court and won a $6.6bn arbitration case against the Federal Government.
- Four years later, the firm was awarded $6.6bn, with an additional $2.4bn included as accrued interest.
- Nigeria for years resisted P&ID’s attempts to begin enforcement proceedings of the rulings in the US and the UK; the judgement by the British court now allows the firm to begin seizing Nigerian assets.
- Under the Jonathan administration, Nigeria negotiated an out-of-court settlement with P&ID for a far smaller sum of $850m. However, the president left the payment to the incoming Buhari administration, which set aside the settlement and asked its lawyers to return to litigation.
Undaunted by the threats and name calling of the Buhari government, the Jonathan camp responded, throwing the blame to the feet of the present administration. It alleged that the administration failed to pay the $850million out of court settlement with P&ID just to spite the previous administration. The government has however, denied that it did not handle the case diligently.
In a statement, signed by a former aide of Jonathan, Mr. Reno Omokri, the Jonathan camp noted as follows:
“Former President Jonathan was not president in January 2010. During that time, he was completely shut out of power by an unelected cabal that ran Nigeria during the period of the ill health of the late President Yar’Adua, before the National Assembly courageously intervened on February 9, 2010.”
Jonathan assumed office in February 2010 and, according to Omokri, the deal had by then already been set in motion by Rilwanu Lukman, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s Petroleum Minister. The cabinet and close allies of the late president had refused to turn over sensitive documents to his deputy because Yar’Adua hadn’t handed over to him as constitutionally stipulated.
“That same cabal has resurrected and has now coalesced around President Muhammadu Buhari, with some of them being made either ministers, or formal and informal advisers. As a matter of fact, the main man behind that cabal is now one of the closest persons to General Buhari.”
It is okay that the Attorney General has sworn to prosecute and punish everyone involved and responsible for the loss, if it is eventually executed, one thing must be established, will he also prosecute himself if given the afore-mentioned, he also had a role to play.
Headlines
Gowon Was Used to Execute Unjust War Against lgbo, Should Seek God’s Forgiveness – Ohanaeze
Ohanaeze Ndigbo has faulted recent claims by former Military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, that the Nigerian-Biafran civil war was not targeted at the Igbo people.
Gowon had said that, rather it was instead the secessionists who revolted against the Nigerian government in 1966.
But Ohanaeze insisted that such claims are not only gross misinformation but also a blatant misrepresentation of historical fact, while describing the representation as an affront to the collective memory and dignity of the Igbo nation.
The apex lgbo group noted that it is a moral obligation to address the pervasive biases and distorted narratives perpetuated by General Gowon, who, as a 91-year-old former military Head of State, was tragically manipulated by colonial powers and the Fulani oligarchy.
In a statement issued on Sunday by a factional Deputy President-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, Ohanaeze accused General Gowon of failure to protect the lives of Nigerians, especially the Igbos residing in the North during the crisis which led to the civil war.
The statement pointed out that unimaginable atrocities were committed against the Igbo people following the 1966 Northern riots, which pushed them into a position of strategic self-defence, a response to a war they did not initiate against the Nigerian government.
The statement partly read: “The grievous narrative that General Gowon has chosen to propagate must be corrected. History will judge Gowon harshly if he neglects this final opportunity to redeem himself by discarding the military mentality and outdated rhetoric of national unity.
“He must have the courage to disclose the truth about the influences that led him to abandon the Aburi Accord, a peace agreement that could have averted the tragic escalation of the Nigeria/Biafra War.
“Gowon’s military aggression toward the Igbo was not merely a reaction to secessionist desires but a strategically calculated action driven by British economic interests in the oil-rich Eastern region of Biafra and the retaliatory motives of the Fulani oligarchy.
The Igbo body added that God Almighty has granted General Gowon continued life for two significant purposes; first, to surrender to his conscience and seek God’s forgiveness, summoning his moral courage to openly confess his misdeeds and provide an accurate account of the Nigerian-Biafran war; second, to facilitate healing by leading efforts toward reconciliation and reconstruction for the Igbo people.
Ohaneze, however, said: “It is indeed lamentable that Gowon’s recent self-aggrandizing statements, possibly designed to sanitize his image, instead continue to perpetuate a façade that insults the deeply felt grievances of the Igbo nation.
“Rather than embrace this moment for personal and national healing, he has insulted the memories of the three million innocent Igbo civilians who lost their lives during the civil war.
“His military pride and an oath of silence have tormented him for over five decades, leading to a deeply personal struggle that he must now confront.
”Ohanaeze’s unwavering advice to General Gowon is straightforward and urgent; as time passes, he must cease his evasive tactics, confront his conscience, and abandon the falsehoods surrounding this grave chapter of Nigeria’s history.
“With only limited time remaining, it is imperative that he speaks the unvarnished truth and seeks forgiveness from the Igbo people and Nigerians at large.
“The curses resulting from the atrocities committed, such as the Asaba massacre, and the tragic toll of three million lives must be lifted.
“The painful repercussions of Gowon’s actions continue to resonate today, affecting even communities in the Middle Belt, where violence perpetrated by Fulani militias persists.
“This is a poignant moment for his associates to create yet another opportunity for him to come forward, unburden himself, and speak the truth.
“The world is watching and waiting for General Gowon to rise to the occasion for the sake of posterity,” the statement added.
Plateau State governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has described Nigeria’s lingering insecurity as a problem created and sustained by the country’s elite.
Speaking at a stakeholder meeting themed ‘Dialogue on Community Policing as a Panacea for Insecurity in Nigeria: The Case of Plateau State’, Mutfwang said the elite have contributed to deepening communal divisions and must take responsibility for reversing the trend.
“My theory is that, more than anybody else, the challenges of insecurity in Nigeria are an elite-created problem. When the elite conspires to lead the people in the wrong direction, we will continue to have this perennial crisis,” he said.
He noted that while the “poisoning of minds” may often start at the community level, the elite have the power to halt such narratives—if they choose to.
“Many a time, you’ll find that even when the poisoning of the mind begins in the community, when the elite take leadership and say it must stop, they’ll address it adequately and it will stop.
“But when the elite fan the embers of hate, they are the people that do their analysis, that begin to spew knowledge, information, and poison the minds of ordinary people—then it will be sustained,” he said.
Mutfwang urged Nigeria’s elite to take greater responsibility in promoting unity and peaceful coexistence.
He reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to dismantling “artificial barriers of faith and ethnicity,” which he argued have long hindered development in Plateau.
“As I stand before you today, I want to reiterate that I came into government with a firm resolve to restore lasting peace to Plateau. That is why I have deliberately sought to bridge the divides we’ve built across religion and ethnicity,” he stated.
Reflecting on his efforts, the governor claimed no administration in Plateau since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999 had done more than his in fostering peace and unity.
“Yet, as recent as yesterday, I received reports of being labelled in certain influential circles. Still, I beat my chest and say, without fear of contradiction, that I have done more than any governor since 1999 in building peace and unity on the Plateau,” he added.
His remarks come amid heightened insecurity in Plateau, Benue, and other northern states in recent months.
Former presidential candidate and Labour Party leader, Mr. Peter Obi, has condemned President Bola Tinubu’s trip to Saint Lucia, calling it an ill-timed and insensitive decision in the face of deepening national crises.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Obi said he was “struggling with my senses to understand what is happening to governance in this country.”
Tinubu departed Nigeria on Saturday, and is expected to visit Saint Lucia, attend BRICS summit in Brazil.
“What I have seen and witnessed in the last two years has left me in shock about poor governance delivery and apparent channelling of energy into politics and satisfaction of the elites, while the masses in our midst are languishing in want,” Obi declared.
“Without any twilight, Nigeria ranks among the most insecure places in the world. Nigerians are hungrier, and most people do not know where their next meal will come from.”
Obi expressed disbelief upon learning of the President’s departure to the Caribbean nation, especially coming shortly after what he described as a holiday in Lagos.
It read, “With such a gory picture of one’s country, you can imagine my bewilderment when I saw a news release from the Presidency announcing that President Bola Tinubu is departing Nigeria today for a visit to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.”
Citing a press briefing by Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister, Philip J. Pierre, Obi noted that the visit included both official engagements and personal vacation.
“According to the Prime Minister’s announcement, ‘two of these days, June 30 and July 1, will be dedicated to an official visit, with the remainder of the trip set aside as a personal vacation,” he said.
Obi said he had initially dismissed the report as unbelievable: “I told the person who drew my attention to the Caribbean story that it cannot be true and that the President is just coming back from a holiday in Lagos.
“I didn’t want to believe that anybody in the position of authority, more so the President… would contemplate a leisure trip at this time.”
The former Anambra governor criticized the President’s failure to personally visit disaster-affected areas, including Minna in Niger State, where over 200 people were reportedly killed and 700 still missing due to flooding.
“This is a President going for leisure when he couldn’t visit Minna, Niger State where over two hundred lives were lost and over 700 persons still missing in a flood natural disaster,” Obi lamented.
He also condemned Tinubu’s recent visit to Makurdi, which he described as politicized.
Obi said, “The other state in crisis where over two hundred lives were murdered, the President yielded to public pressure and visited Makurdi… for what turned out to be a political jamboree than condolence as public holiday was declared and children made to line up to receive the President who couldn’t even reach the village, the scene of the brutal attack.”
Obi drew sharp comparisons between the size and population of Saint Lucia and the Nigerian cities neglected by the President.
“Makurdi is 937.4 Km², which is over 59% bigger than St Lucia, which is 617 km², and Minna is 6789 square kilometres, which is ten times bigger than St Lucia. St Lucia, with a population of 180,000, is less than half of Makurdi’s 489,839 and Minna, with 532,000 is almost three times the population of St Lucia,” Obi quoted his stats in the post.
Calling for leadership anchored in empathy and urgency, Obi said: “I don’t think the situation in this country today calls for leisure for anybody in a position of authority, more so the President, on whose desk the buck stops.
“This regime has repeatedly shown its insensitivity and lack of passion for the populace…”
He accused the administration of prioritizing elites over the masses.
“One had expected the President to be asking God for extra hours in a day for the challenges, but what we see is a concentration of efforts in the 2027 election and on satisfying the wealthy while the mass poor continues to multiply in number,” Obi’s tweet further read.
Concluding his fiery message, Obi urged national reflection and redirection.
He concluded, “Finally, I like to let our leaders know one thing: that the God-given resources of this country belong to all, not to a few.
“The time has come to put a stop to this drift before it consumes all and focus on pulling people out of poverty.”
The Punch
