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| Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohamme |
Determined to overcome legal hurdles over the $9.6billion judgment debt against the country over a failed oil contract, the Federal Government is weighing three options.
The options include applying for a stay of execution, an order to set it aside and the third is to negotiate with the firm on โreasonableโ terms.
The government has hired a crack team of foreign lawyers who will arrive in the country this weekend to be able to hold a review session with the government team in Abuja on Monday.
A United Kingdom court in a ruling authorized an Irish engineering and project management company, Process and Industrial Developments Ltd. (P&ID) to seize 9.6 billion dollars in Nigerian assets over the failed contract.
The judgment was fallout of the contract purportedly entered into in July 2010 between the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and P&ID and the subsequent award made in July 2015 by an arbitration panel sitting in London in favour of the company.
Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed on a Nigerian Television (NTA) programme โGood Morning Nigeria,โ said the $9.6billion award (over N3trillion) is untenable because the nation will lose about 20 per cent of its Foreign Reserves.
He also said although the problem was created by the administration of late President Umaru YarโAdua, President Muhammadu Buhari was trying to address it because government is a continuum.
He said it was wrong for some commentators to conclude that the Buhari administration had not addressed the judgment debt.
The minister said: โThe Federal Government has engaged very competent lawyers both in the UK and in the US. Since the enforcement judgment is in the UK, we are working very hard, first for a stay of execution and also subsequently to get the award set aside.
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โWe are leaving no stone unturned. We are even ready or willing to sit down with P&ID and negotiate. We will take every legal, diplomatic and otherwise step to ensure that we do not allow this to take place.
โWhy did we take this matter to the highest level? Why did we say we are going to use legal, diplomatic and other means? It is not because we want to save money; it is just because the ward was unfair, unconscionable and punitive. I am short of words to really describe what the country is going through.
โThe government is doing its best to resolve it. At the end, we will sit down with P&ID and agree on something reasonable.
โWe are very confident we will succeed. I think we should just allow our lawyers to go into this.โ
Asked if the circumstances surrounding the award amounted to a movie, Mohammed added: โI wish it were a movie but it is actually a serious matter.โ
He gave insights into how the contract became stalemated without any service provided.
He said: โLike I tried to reconstruct at a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja, the contract for the gas supply was purportedly entered into in 2010 between P&ID (an Irish company) and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
โBut ab initio, it was a contract that was not meant to be because in the first instance, the contracting parties were very strange. If you want a contract to supply gas, you should have as parties those who own the gas.
โThe Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources does not own gas, the gas is owned by the International Oil Companies (IOCs), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and others.
โSo, ab initio, you could see the intent was less honest. Unfortunately, some local actors, both within the system and outside the system, are being fingered to have collaborated with both local and international actors to defraud Nigeria.โ
โThis is even more evident in the sense that P&ID claimed to have invested $40million in the project but the CBN said there was no record of importation of any money from P&ID.
โThey went to an arbitration panel, $6.597billion was awarded against the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources. Attempts were made on the part of the government. We engaged the company but there was no headway. When you look at the final award on August 16, 2017, it has ballooned to $9.6 billion.
โIt is simply punitive on a gargantuan scale to inflict economic injury on Nigeria and its people. This is why the Federal Government is doing everything possible to ask for a stay of execution and to set aside the award.
โIt is quite unfortunate because it is one thing to breach a contract, if you have entered into a contract so to say and if the other party has performed, but for you to be slammed with a $9.6 billion fines when the injury suffered by the other party cannot be quantified.
A former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Michael Aoondoakaa on Thursday said a the chief law officer of the country at the time the contract was purportedly signed, he did not know anything about it.
โArbitration is supposed to be restitution, it is not supposed to give you what you ought to have made in 20 years. This is why we are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the judgment is set aside.
โThe contract was bizarre in the sense that a company comes and it says it wants contract and it does not bring anything to the table.
He added: โThis contract was entered into in 2010, five clear years before this government came on board. But we accept responsibility because government is a continuum.
The Minister explained that a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo represented Nigeria at the arbitration panel in London.
He said: โOf course, yes. We were represented at the arbitration level. From the records available to me, there were three arbitrators. One was nominated by a party, another by the second party and the two parties agreed on the third arbiter.
โNigeria was represented on the arbitration by a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo. It is not true that we did not defend or that Nigeria was not represented.
โEven immediately after the award, we went into negotiation with P&ID. So, all these questions that the Federal Government did nothing were absolutely not true.
โThe contract was awarded in 2010, arbitration started in 2013 and award was given in 2017. And the moment we were aware of this matter, we immediately stepped into the case.โ
Mohammed pleaded for understanding of Nigerians by being patriotic in supporting the Federal Government.
โThis is not about any particular administration, it is about Nigeria. The award translates into over N3trillion, which is 20% of our Foreign Reserves. It is an essential threat to Nigeria.โ
As at press time, it was gathered that a crack team of foreign lawyers was being expected in the country by weekend.
A presidency source said: โThe foreign lawyers will hold a review meeting with the Federal Governmentโs team on Monday.
โWe are ready for the legal battle ahead if P&ID is adamant. This award cannot stand.โ
