03092019 - FG weighs options as another $2.3bn fine looms

More documents

Recommendations

Info

30 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2019
The $9 billion judicial scam against Nigeria (1) ON Friday August 16, Mr Justice Butcher of the London Admiralty Court awarded a recordbreaking US$9.8 billion against the Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN, for breach of contract involving a shadowy off-the-shelf company, Process and Industrial Development Limited, PI&D. Christopher Butcher QC is reputed to be among the most formidable judges in England today. A first class graduate of Magdalene College Cambridge, he is also a Vinerian Scholar and Prize Fellow of All Souls College Oxford, with a doctorate from King’s College University of London, to boot. But his judgement is flawed. The award grants the claimants leave to seize all of Nigeria’s commercial assets at sea and on land, including ships and oil tankers, gold deposits, shares, bonds, securities, real estate and Central Bank reserves owned by our government. This may well go down as one of our worst debacles ever, comparable only to the 2009 loss of the strategic Bakassi Peninsula at the World Court. The latter was presided over by a French jurist, Gilbert Guillaume, whose country had strategic neo-colonial interests in the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula. We stood no chance whatsoever. I now understand why Bonaparte By YUSUF IDRIS GUSAU ZAMFARA State was carved out of the old Sokoto State 23 years ago. Largely agrarian, it stood out as an agricultural hub for the whole of the North West Zone with 70 per cent of its populace living and farming in rural areas. Prior to its elevated position of a state, Zamfara was a proud producer of grains of high quality due mainly to its rich fertile soil encased between sedimentary rocks. This envious position informed decision makers of colonial era to extend a rail line up North that cut Gusau, the state capital, into two halves, terminating at Kaura Namoda - a commercial city itself that links Niger Republic through Jibia in Katsina State. This railway line covering several kilometres, assisted greatly in moving grains and other farm produce, including cotton and groundnut, to the Lagos Port sea-bound to the United Kingdom, Nigeria’s colonial master at the time. This in no small measure assisted greatly to power its industrial revolution. Where there are farmers, there are herders, as their lives intertwine, each one needing the other for support. For decades that cordial relationship existed with each one respecting the territorial integrity of the other. Zamfara was a model of peace until recently when land for farming activities became a scarce commodity and livestock rearing became a risky investment. Tempers flared, and what ensued later, though an expected social phenomenon, degenerated from few fiscuffs to deadly skirmishes. There was no love lost between farmers and cattle herders. Zamfara became a theatre of war of some sorts, details of which are already in public domain. It will, however, linger in our memory for some time to come. Thank God Almighty, we are now in celebratory mood that a responsible and responsive government is in place, which came had such contempt for mere lawyers. Greedy lawyers will enthusiastically mortgage their county if the fees are attractive enough. The late Judge Teslim Olawale Elias, a former President of the ICJ and by far our greatest jurist ever, warned us to avoid taking the matter to The Hague. But our greedy lawyers only saw dollars and gave the wrong advice to the then military government. As a consequence, we lost forever the most strategic naval outpost on the South Eastern corridor of our great country. Today, the dogs are returning to their own vomit. Philosophers of history tell us that history repeats itself, first as tragedy and second as farce. In 2010 PI&D signed a Gas Supply and Processing Agreement, GSPA, with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, FMPR, in respect of the accelerated gas development project in Nigeria’s OMLs 67 & 123. The objective was to build a facility to process raw gas into lean gas to be used to generate electrical power. The company was to build a gas facility wholly at its own expense but was to export the by-products - methane, propane, hydrogen sulphides and nitrogen - for a profit. The government on its part would lay gas pipelines and other relevant infrastructure while delivering gas to the processing plant. What RUGA means to Matawalle about through divine intervention. Zamfara of today is unlike what it was eight years ago; eight years of neglect, indecision and misgovernance. Chronicling this eight years, though not the subject of this discourse, will not be dismissed outright because they underpinned what ought to have been done if only the powers that be then had listened to wise counsel and tailored their policies to reflect the needs of the ordinary people of Zamfara. That, they failed to do but pandered to elite proclivities. Today Dr. Mohammed Bello Matawalle is the Governor of Zamfara State, a state with a proud motto of "Farming is Our Pride". Not one given to unbridled ambition, Matawalle's journey to Gusau Government House began in 1999 when he contested and won a House of Representatives seat for Bakura/Maradun Federal Constituency. He knew what he wanted and what was needed to be done. He approached them with patience and dogged determination until the ultimate prize was had - to govern a people he loves the most. He saw right from the onset that his predecessors won’t leave any endearing and positive legacy. His prediction came to pass: the 20 years of Senator Ahmed Yarima down to the Abdulaziz Yari administrations accorded lip service to the welfare of the rural populace who were the movers of the state’s economy through farming. With solid minerals buried under its soil, Zamfara also had potential to be great. Harnessing these, though, were done half-heartedly through illconceived policies which exposed the rural populace to attacks by bandits. Bandits and cattle rustlers were on countless murderous campaigns to illegally exploit the precious metals the state is endowed with. The gory details of what transpired is a subject of another day. What is of importance for us here is how Matawalle has hit the ground running After two years of no-show, in 2012 PI&D took the matter to a London arbitration tribunal, claiming damages for breach of contract. They argued that, in failing to build the required pipelines, the government failed to fulfil its part of the bargain. Meanwhile, they themselves had not made the first move by way of building the plant. They claimed to have made several futile attempts to engage with the government in finding a practical way out of the impasse. The years 2010-2012 were among the most difficult in our country. President Umaru Yar’Adua was afflicted with life-threatening illness throughout his presidency from May 2007, dying in a Saudi hospital in March 2010, precisely around the time the contract was supposedly signed on his behalf by his Petroleum Minister, Rilwan Lukman, who was himself a sick man. On May 3, 2015, at the tail end of the Goodluck Jonathan administration the company wrote You don’t ignore problems and they automatically go away; under international law, governments may change, but the state continues expressing willingness to accept a settlement of US$850 million. Note again the timing. According to a spokesman for the erstwhile administration, Reno Omokri, President Jonathan did not feel comfortable making such a payment on the eve of his departure for fear that it might grossly be misunderstood. I imagine that he would have asterisked the issue in Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2019—31 his hand-over notes to President Muhammadu Buhari when he took over on May 29, 2015. Buhari is not a statesman who could master his own brief; being more of a latter-day Caliph who prefers to leave the tiresome business of governing to his grateful subalterns. It took him a good six months to form a cabinet in November 2015. As a consequence there was no Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in place when, in July 2015, the tribunal awarded PI&D US$1.9 billion in damages. The three members of the tribunal were Lord Hoffman, Anthony Evans and Bayo Ojo, one of our former attorneys-general. Lord Hoffman QC is a retired judge and a recognised London arbitrator. A former Rhodes scholar from South Africa, Leonard Hubert Baron Hoffmann was one of the most influential Law Lords on the British legal firmament. But he is also known to be controversial; occasionally prone to delivering judgements that raise eyebrows. Would it also be fair to speculate that Lord Hoffmann might have been desirous of making a punitive award against Nigeria commensurate with the $5.2 billion (negotiated down to $3.2billion) that our NCC lumbered on South African telecoms giant MTN? Sir Anthony Evans is a former Lord Justice of Appeal and also Chief Justice of the Dubai International Financial Centre Court. They are hardly the type to be sympathetic to Nigeria. Former Attorney-General Bayo Ojo SAN was said to have delivered a dissenting opinion, arguing that the award should never have exceeded $250 million. Being a former Attorney-General of Nigeria, he should have recused himself. They might have placed him there merely to give a semblance of fairness. I would have preferred someone like Fidelis Odita, QC, SAN, arguably since he assumed the mantle of leadership of the state on May 29 this year. At various fora he stated his resolve to end the unending farmer-herder crises once and for all. An opportunity knocked on his door with the announcement of the RUGA initiative. To the Zamfara governor the innovative idea could not have come at a better time. To him, RUGA means the upliftment of millions out of poverty through harmonious living between those who till the land and their counterparts who tend to livestock. An idea that fits perfectly with his programmes even if the rest of the country chooses to reject it for sinister political reasons. Under a programme of action, his government plans to construct dams and canals to serve as watering holes for animals To Matawalle, RUGA means uplifting millions out of poverty through harmonious living between those who till the land and their counterparts who tend to livestock as well as dry season farming through irrigation. The dams will also provide potable drinking water consisting of 12 hand pumps and four solar powered motorised boreholes that will provide 5000 litres of water daily. The Matawalle RUGA initiative is proposed for launch on an earmarked 100 hectares expanse of land to provide, among other social amenities, primary and secondary schools and an Islamiyah. For the promotion of healthy living the RUGA initiative will provide a 30-bed hospital and a veterinary clinic for livestock vaccination. The state-of-the-art hospital shall consists of a surgery, pharmacy, laboratory, a theater and an antenatal, women and children departments. Commerce will also enjoy a pride of place within this 100-hectare land to be Send Opinions & Letters to: opinions1234@yahoo.com the greatest financial and capital markets legal luminary in Britain. On January 31, 2017, the tribunal rendered a final award of US$6.597 billion against us. The figure was revised upwards ostensibly based on calculation of seven per cent interest effective from March 20, 2013, leading to a total figure of US$9.8 billion. Lawyer for the claimants, Andrew Stafford QC of the London chambers Kobre & Kim, was quoted as saying that his client is “committed to vigorously enforcing its rights, and we intend to begin the process of seizing Nigerian assets”. Brendan Cahill, the key principal, blamed our government for failing to fulfil their part of the contract, thereby aborting the purported objective of “bringing electricity to millions and helping Nigeria reach its full potential”. From the word go, the Buhari administration smelt a rat. The erstwhile PDP administration, if truth be told, was deeply mired in grand larceny such as we had never seen before in the oil sector. According to London’s Royal Institute of International Affairs, our treasury was losing something like $1 billion per month from oil theft. The excesses of people like former oil minister Diezani Allison- Madueke stank to the high heavens. Try as we may, we cannot deodorise the stench of those years. This explains why the current administration thought to distance itself from the case. But it was a big mistake. You don’t ignore problems and they automatically go away. Under international law, governments may change, but the state continues. For better or worse, a government inherits the assets and liabilities of its predecessors. The government rightly argues that the scale of the award is not only odious, it is ruinously extortionate. Continues next week boosted with 140 lock-up and open shops. Matawalle believes an egalitarian society can only materialise if a people are guided by the tenets of their faith. In the original Sharia implementation format, mosques were built in every village and hamlets; beautiful edifices they were as masjid but lacking in knowledgeable worshippers. The purpose was, therefore, defeated. Little wonder majority of bandits and cattle rustlers were not only illiterate but steeped in ignorance of their professed faith. Masjids will henceforth be not only centres for prayers but learning. Lack of which was the reason to the bandits human life meant nothing. Matawalle is changing the narrative. Parents, both male and female, including their children and wards, will be taught what it’s to be a Muslim. Aside that, they will be taught vocational skills to manage their environment and take advantage of such facilities as a modern abattoir, dairy production centres and a small scale hides and skin processing plant. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, is an old saying. Matawalle believes in it too. To this end, he intends to revive the good old Fulani Sharo. Lest we forget, a maiden edition was staged during the recent Sallah festivities in Gusau, the state capital. Guests from far and wide graced the occasion. The governor has since announced it will be an annual event. To cap it all the vast expanse of land housing the RUGA will be connected to the national grid for constant power supply. You bet this new city in the making will be a marvel to behold. A grass band is proposed to be planted around the area that will germinate within 16 weeks for animal feed, and for aesthetic beauty. The weather elements will be taken care of as best as possible with the settlement being covered with shelter belts. To Matawalle this is the beginning of reinventing Zamfara State. And the job has just begun. •Gusau is the Director-General, Press Affairs, to the Zamfara State Governor. C M Y K
Page 1 and 2: MAILAFIA 31 You don’t ignore prob
Page 3 and 4: Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 201
Page 11 and 12: My party was aborted for no reason
Page 17 and 18: Republic of bandits These bandits s
Page 19 and 20: GSM data subscribers rise by 68% to
Page 29: Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 201
Page 37 and 38: Cows are now more important than hu
Page 43 and 44: YOUR LUCK TODAY By Joshua Adeyemo P
Page 45 and 46: Vanguard,TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2019
Page 47 and 48: FIFA shortlist: Once again Ronaldo,

03092019 - FG weighs options as another $2.3bn fine looms

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?