The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian Newspapers

  • Sanwo-Olu, deplorable roads and criminal okada riders

    Protecting the interest of the ruled, especially the middle class- teachers, journalists, lawyers, doctors and other professionals, is the best safeguard against government instability in any society. And once those basic needs of the governed are met, government can do no evil. This explains why our highly educated youths and skilled professionals are moving in droves to Canada and other western societies where these basic needs are secured despite the prospect of ending up as slaves in the service of capitalist slave drivers that own those societies. And what are these basic needs for which many Nigerians are prepared to trade their freedom for enslavement in foreign lands? Good schools for the education of their children, security of life and properties and of their families at home or in the streets, regular supply of electricity and water and affordable health care system.

    Today, the governed are not even asking for all these basic needs which were taken for granted in Lagos and some parts of the country until the collapse of the first republic in 1966. They have been scaled down because of our crisis of underdevelopment.  With the collapse of public schools and government tertiary institutions, the governed especially in Lagos spend the bulk of their earnings on sending their children to private schools and higher institutions at home or abroad. They generate their own electricity, are responsible for their own water supply as well as their own security and that of their communities. What the governed expect from their government is therefore limited to clearance of refuse, provision of roads, and protection from unruly ‘okada’ riders and sick ‘danfo’ drivers on those roads. Sadly, the few expectations have been met more in default by immediate past and current Lagos State government.

    Governor  Sanwo-Olu admitted this much  while marking his first 100 days in office on the on September 5 in an event grazed by top chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, traditional leaders, members of the state executive council, civil society, market leaders, students, and youth group. According to him “On assumption of office, we were confronted with major challenges, including traffic management and environmental sanitation. Potholes dotted our highways and heaps of refuse were common sites in our communities. And traffic situation became a source of concern to residents.” He wants Lagosians to believe his declaration of emergency on traffic management and transportation in the state through an executive order “has brought about significant relief to the residents of the state”.

    It is doubtful if many Lagosians, not least, the opposition PDP that dismissed the governor’s outing as “a fanfare of failure”, share his sentiment. In this group are  residents of  potholes dotted Ikeja and its environ, Agege, Ikotun, Ejigbo, Ikorodu, Apapa, Gbagada, Oshodi, Magodo 1, Egbeda, Ipaja, and Abule-Egba; Ikorodu community with huge heaps of un-cleared refuse and motorists who are daily robbed inside traffic gridlocks by okada riders. Obviously the governor is unaware that what has so far defined his four months administration is the chaos and anarchy created by okada riders inside traffic gridlocks on Lagos highways.

    As much as one might wish to sympathise with Sanwo-Olu for inheriting a regime of pot-holes, un-cleared refuse dumps and the takeover of Lagos major roads by okada riders from Ambode who abandoned governance the moment he failed to secure his APC’s party ticket for a second term, but then one remembers he has not only been part of government since 2003, he had two clear months to prepare for Ambode’s failure of governance. In any case, this is the fourth month of Sanwo-Olu in government and there is no evidence the Lagos State Road Traffic Law of August 2, 2012 which restricts the operations of commercial motorcycles on about 475 out of the over 9,000 roads in Lagos State which is today being breached by commercial motorcyclists who ride against traffic on major high ways and express ways has been repealed.

    The governor is also not unaware that most crimes in recent times have been linked with activities of unruly okada and tricycle drivers. Just last Monday, Lagos State Police Commissioner, Zubairu Muazu disclosed 11 notorious traffic robbery suspects arrested by the police on September 14, at Igando area of the state and the notorious armed robbers who specialised in snatching phones, money and other valuables from unsuspecting members of the public, mostly where there were traffic gridlocks “ operate mostly on motorcycles”. According to him, “those arrested all confessed to be responsible for series of robberies at traffic points, bus stops, around Yabatech, Yaba, Ejigbo, Igando-Ikotun, Ipaja and Isolo areas of the state”. In all, he disclosed “19 Lagosians have been murdered in Lagos and 31 armed robbery attempt foiled in one month, a ‘huge reduction in violent crimes over the last few months”. If Sanwo-Olu is troubled by these statistics, the governed are yet to see that in his response.

    Sadly, the tepid response of Sanwo-Olu to the menace of motorcyclists so far was the questioning of 123 Jigawa youths ferried to Lagos along their 48 motorcycles in a trailer on August 31 by his Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Task Force. Ferrying of northern youths and motorcycles to Lagos by northern governors who claimed it was their own answer to mass unemployment dates as far back as 2012. Neither the governors who are under pressure to provide jobs for largely unemployable illiterates nor the desperate marginalized youths who are in search of greener pastures can be blamed. What attracts them to Lagos, the economic capital of the country is what daily draws other poor, jobless youths from other geo-political zones of the country to Lagos.

    What Governor Sanwo-Olu needs is a more creative approach to the menace of unruly and criminal okada riders whose operations had been banned even by some northern states.  He also needs to take a cue from Fashola who called the bluff of okada riders even when they had the support of the then President Jonathan whose party attempted to use them to destablise Lagos.

    Fashola was also not waiting on the public to send pictures of pot-holes through indolent civil servants.  Some three years back, I wrote a piece about the menace of touts and police men on Mile 12-Ikorodu road who ferried their unsuspecting victims to a location behind Agric Bus Stop in Ikorodu where they give their victims after hours of standing in the sun a Hobbesian choice of paying bribe to bail themselves out and going to pay fine in Oshodi which will take about two days while their impounded vehicles attracted demurrage. Two weeks after the report, some indolent men who claimed to handle public complaint for Ambode called asking me to furnish them with more information. Fashola would have driven to the identified location incognito. It is also on record that Marwa ensured that any identified pot-hole in any part of Lagos was attended to within a week while uninspiring Oyinlola before him blamed the deplorable state of Lagos roads on scarcity of bitumen.

    Sanwo-Olu as an executive governor is not obliged to retain political hangers-on and indolent bureaucrats who undermined Ambode’s efforts to meet the scaled-down demands of the Lagos’ governed.

  • ‘Lagos Assembly will not fail Lagosians’

    A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Mushin1 Constituency, Nureni Akinsanya, has assured Lagosians that the House will not let them down.

    Speaking at the Lawmaker’s Constituency Stakeholders meeting, he said the 9th Lagos Assembly would be unrelenting in partnering with the Executive on moving the state forward.

    According to Akinsanya, a smooth relationship was necessary between the two arms to develop the state.

    He said that was one of the reasons why the 2019 Constituency of Stakeholders meeting was targeted at a cleaner environment.

    According to the lawmaker, this was part of the House’s contributions towards ensuring a cleaner, safe and sustainable environment.

    Akinsanya said one of the focal areas of the Sanwo –Olu administration is a cleaner environment as promised in its campaign promises.

    Akinsanya pointed that a clean environment is essential in a mega city like Lagos for it to continue to maintain its leadership position in the country.

    He therefore tasked his constituents in Mushin Local Government to key into the clean environment agenda of the state government.

  • Abiodun: Development for the forgotten ones

    Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun has made poverty abolition his priority. In this piece, Donald Oluwafisayo highlights the programmes of the administration to mitigate the suffering of the poor and enhance public welfare.

    A major affliction that has hit the 36 states since the return to civil rule in 1999 is governance without vision.

    While some, admittedly few and far between, have put in valiant efforts, it is a fact that in most cases, a significant portion of the states has rotted under ungoverned governors. The implication: what has been labelled development has been no more than the mere window dressing of the state capitals.

    The rule seems to have been: site visible projects in the state capitals and one or two major cities that travelers will no doubt come in contact with, and then a second term of office is a done deal. But, then, even the development in the state capitals is circumscribed by location, meaning that the state capitals inevitably present two worlds: the new areas enjoying government patronage and the traditional slums still in full communion with degradation, poverty and want. In this connection, the point just cannot be ignored that Ogun, a state most contiguous to the country’s economic capital, Lagos, is happily presenting a new paradigm, one that promises to bring the ‘dividends of democracy’ to the forgotten neighbourhoods, the abandoned populations, hapless citizens who have been for ages no more than statistical incidentals in government agencies. For the first time in a life time, many ancient communities are seeing good roads, hospitals, schools and other facilities springing up before their very eyes, places that politicians only remembered during campaigns—places, let us remember, that have never mattered to government until now.

    Through the direct labour agency, roads are now being cleared that were hitherto a nightmare to motorists, and this is being done simultaneously in all the local government areas of the state. For the first time since 1999, the point is being made, in practical terms, that development cannot be limited to major towns like Ijebu-Ode and Abeokuta; that every part of the state must feel government presence. A technology hub has been set up to rejig ICT across the state and enhance the ease of doing business, and two more to follow shortly. Surely, Governor Dapo Abiodun’s identifification of 236 schools across the state, one per ward for complete rehabilitation, will address the monumental rot in Ogun public schools, and it is ennobling that after this exercise, a new set of schools will enjoy the same treatment. The long and short of this is that there will be no ward without government’s educational presence. And with the approval of the years 2016 and 2017 promotion of 10,000 teachers, resolution of the MAPOLY crisis and its re-accreditation, implementation of the recommendations of the visitation panel on the Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE) and the establishment of a Government Delivery Unit for Education, education in the state will begin to get back on track.

    As in education, so in health: dilapidated hospitals are being given a facelift and more resident doctors employed to serve in the hitherto forgotten habitations. Primary health centres are being set up per ward so that people can enjoy health services without travelling miles away from home. At the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, the recruitment process for all categories and cadres of healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lab scientists, radiographers, etc) has already commenced, as has the rehabilitation of the State Hospital Ilaro. The government has already organised free medical outreach at Ilishan, Odeda and Ilaro, addressing polio, diabetes, malaria, eyes, malaria, typhoid and other issues. There is the anchor borrowers scheme with several hectares of land acquired and distributed to agropreneurs, a project for which N1.5 billion is being accessed from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The initial 2000 agro-preneurs  have been allocated 1ha of land each. It must be music to the ears of Ogun citizens that their governor wants to take advantage of land resources to build agriculture and provide food for people through a project that attracts a zero digit interest rate; one which has  a mechanism for tracking efficiency. Again, about 120,000 citizens are already registered on the job portal created by the state government, the essence being to know who to employ when vacancies arise in government. And if there are companies interested in Ogun State, they will place their adverts on the job portal and applications can then be received through it. It certainly not fortuitous that appropriate legislation and executive orders have been put in place to ensure accountability and prudence in the management of government resources, including the implementation of the medium term expenditure framework for budget preparation, establishment of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission for prudent financial management of state resources; efficient allocation of public expenditure, revenue and debt management; long-term economic stability of the state. Nor can the establishment of public Private Partnership (PPP) Office, implementation of staff biometrics and payroll audit and treasury management solution for single view and efficiency in treasury and payment processing and  the establishment of the Bureau of Public Procurement Council be less development-oriented.

    The state is actively pursuing investment initiatives, and has already undertaken an amendment of the Investment Promotion Agency (IPA) / Ogun Invest Bill to actualise this objective. It has held a business roundtable with CEOs and business executives in the private sector and established the Ogun State Business Environment Council to improve and streamline the state’s internal processes towards achieving better scores in the ease of doing business ranking, as well as the Enterprise Development Agency (EDA) for capacity building and facilitation of financing access to support the MSMEs sector. In this regard, the executive order for the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project Implementation Structures, as part of the requirements for the establishment of Project Steering Committee (PSC), Project Implementation Unit (PIU) for the $250m World Bank loan, is a step in the right direction. It has initiated a creative arts and entertainment hub in conjunction with Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility Limited (SANEF) to further deepen development at the grass roots.

    The foregoing, though, should leave no one with the impression that Abiodun wants to abandon the state capital and the major towns. He has already commenced 50 units of housing development at Hilltop Estate Abeokuta, and there is the 200 low income, mass housing units project at Ibara Abeokuta. In any case, if the etablishment of the Ogun Sports Commission is geared towards youth development, issues of social welfare are encapsulated in the empowerment of 1000 Widows by the wife of the Governor, launching of ‘Okowo Dapo’ loan programme with 2000 initial beneficiaries of N10,000 each. There is of course the overarching issue of security, where the procurement of 100 pick-up patrol vehicles, 200 motor bikes for the state law enforcement agencies, sourcing of Helicopter from the Presidency for aerial surveillance and the amendment of the Security Trust Fund (STF) Law and the inauguration of the STF Board are all expected to enhance governance objectives. Not a few Nigerians would hope that the informal sector enumeration and resident registration, centralisation and automation of the administration and management of key revenue toll points, will drive revenue, along with the commencement of the energy sector reforms. For a government that has in just three months given the Ijebu Ode Stadium a facelift and established the Ogun State Public Works Agency, Ogun State Waste Management Agency and Government Delivery Unit for Infrastructure, the best is certainly yet to come.

     

  • On Buhari’s new economic team

    Sir: The recent dramatic action taken by Muhammadu Buhari has been variously interpreted as the crucifixion of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the Yoruba race. Even in these days of national emotion, and ethnic disorder, this is an exaggeration and not the views of many people in the Southwest or among the Yoruba race.

    The new body that was setup is a purely professional one, aimed at energizing the economic well-being of this country. Compared with the Economic Management Team (EMT) presided over by the vice president, it is not a collection of key cabinet ministers and some important administrators of this government. To me, it now appears the president is on the right track of moving our country forward or to the next level. We must admit it, the former body was merely a branch or a sub-committee (plus a few technocrats) of the Federal Executive Council. It was the same people Osinbajo met at FEC that he presided over at the lower level of his former Economic Management Team (EMT).

    If we care to have a look, a dispassionate look at Buhari’s Economic Advisory Committee, it is a think tank forum for serious minded professionals-economists, public finances experts, most of whom have had some connections or attachment to multinationals in Africa and at the World Bank at large. They are people who would not like to please and shower praises on the president at every turn and by every turn. They are professionals who will talk straight and look straight at Buhari’s face.

    On the other hand, Prof. Osinbajo is a very loyal, committed and willing supporter of the president. It is hard to come by a deputy to a president or a head of state that is more vigorous and loyal to his boss. But may I ask fellow Nigerians if these are the only qualities needed now for our struggling economy where over 100  million Nigerians are struggling under the poverty line? Osinbajo is not an economic planner. He should be left to where he belongs, legal and administrative matters. No country in Africa is blessed more than we are in the skills required to develop and advance economy. We should not play cheap like some others who will jump and defend ‘their own’, right or wrong

    I guess the next three to four years will be crucial to the well-being of Nigerians and therefore to the peace and stability of our country. No political jargon ever ensures stability and peace. What restrains restlessness among the youth is ability to make a living out of life. It is not how many voting process or free elections that our country may go through to ensure peace and progress in our community. It is simply ability to put food on the table which the new Economic Advisory Committee must consider to be its number one priority.

    I want to advise the Afenifere faction that pretends to spit fire every time on any issue, the contending parties constituting the Yoruba Council of Elders and the newly inaugurated Yoruba leadership that the Yoruba are so civilized, so exposed, so informed that no desperate attempt for self or group recognition can turn the Yoruba Race into negative partners in the Nigerian project. Most of our people young and old are fortune seekers who cling to one nomenclature or the other to be able to earn a living. No, the Yoruba have passed that state.

    May I humbly repeat that the economy of this country needs constant appraisal, re-appraisal, re-positioning and turning that our joint efforts must be seen to rise above linguistic and ethnic pursuit. The Yoruba must rise and attempt to meet the basic moral and nationalistic position of Obafemi Awolowo who considered his personal well-being, far less important than the progress and stability of our nation. Indeed we have a history to be proud of. Let us now rise to the occasion by seeing the well-being of our country our major concern.

     

    • Asiwaju Deji Fasuan; MON, JP; Ado-Ekiti.

  • MAPOLY gets N10 million endowment

    A BUSINESS mogul Chief Olatunde Ayinla Abudu  has donated N10million to  Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta.

    Abudu, a  Fellow of the institution, made the donation when the management of the institution paid him a visit in his Abeokuta residence to canvass financial support for the institution.

    Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr Samson Adeola Odedina, who led the management team, thanked Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, for returning the institution to status quo ante in June.

    Odedina said the meeting was meant to reopen a relationship with all stakeholders to bring back the institution’s glory.

    Odedina told their host that their effort was aimed launching the institution back to prominence through the 2019/2020 admission with the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB).

    He said management has reached an understanding with its regulatory body, the National Board For Technical Education (NBTE), to return the institution to its portal. In view of the ongoing development, Odedina assured  a revalidation and accreditation of 44 programmes previously run by the polytechnic, including its first set of agricultural and land-related courses.

    According to him, the institution is also taking advantage of the new Polytechnic Act signed by the Federal Government which empowers polytechnics nationwide to partner with other relevant institutions to produce high-level manpower.

    In his response, Chief Abudu reiterated his belief in the institution’s ability to address capacity gaps and employment generation in Nigeria.

    The nonagenarian educationist praised the Odedina-led management for initiating moves to re-ignite the relationship with stakeholders towards improving the lots of the institution.

    In 2017, the 40 year-old institution was rechristened Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology by the immediate past administration, a move that created an identity crisis before the present administration directed that status quo should be maintained.

  • Senate rolls out legislative agenda

    The Senate on Wednesday received report of its ad-hoc committee on the 9th Senate Legislative Agenda.

    Chairman of the Committee, Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central) presented the report.

    The consideration and adoption of the report has been slated for Thursday.

    “This is to enable Senators time to read and digest the report for effective contributions during its debate,” said the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan.

    Lawan had on assumption of office pledged to fashion a legislative agenda to guide the effective performance of Senators.

    Senator Aliero listed youth empowerment to curb increasing number of youth unemployment, poverty alleviation to ensure that 100 million Nigerians are lifted out of poverty in the next four years as part of the plank of the agenda.

    Read Also; Senate moves to regulate inflow of aids to Nigeria

    Aliero also listed a legislative framework to tackle the phenomenon of out of school children in the country, creation of special health centres in the six geopolitical zones and reduction of acute housing deficit in the country.

    The Kebbi Central Senator also listed fashioning legislative measures to further enhance gender equality, tackle infrastructure deficit, increase agricultural production, fast track the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and holistic reform of the oil and gas sector as other part of the agenda.

    He said the Senate would also work to further block revenue leakages, back anti-corruption agenda of the Federal Government and make procurement processes less cumbersome.

    He highlighted the Open NASS policy, where the budget of the National Assembly would be in the public glare.

    “By throwing open the budget of the National Assembly, Nigerians will know that we have nothing to hide,” Aliero said.

  • Red hot Osimhen gets sixth season for Lille

    Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen took his goal count for the season to six in seven games with a goal for Lille in their 2-0 win over Strasbourg.

    Osimhen opened scoring for Lille in the 43rd minute with a calm finish to hand his team a 1-0 lead going into the half time breal and fifteen minutes after the break he was on hand to set up Loic Remy for the second goal for Lille.

    Read Also: French Ligue1: Osimhen, Kalu score Simon plays for 90 minutes

    The win takes Lille to second spot on the table with Osimhen who was signed in the summer from Belgium side Charleroi playing a huge role in their fine start to the season in France.

    Since marking his debut with a brace against Nantes, he scored another brace against Saint-Etienne before finding the net againt Angers and later today against Strasbourg.

    He extended his fine form to the senior national team of Nigeria where he scored his first international goal for the team in the 2-2 friendly draw against Ukraine during the last international round of games

  • I’ll waive my constitutional immunity to clear my name – Osinbajo

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has declared his readiness to waive his constitutional immunity to “enable the most robust adjudication” of several baseless allegations, insinuation and falsehoods against his person and office.

    Prof. Osinbajo made the declaration in a tweet he personally authored on Wednesday afternoon.

    He said “In the past few days, a spate of reckless and malicious falsehoods have been peddled in the media against me by a group of malicious individuals.

    “The defamatory and misleading assertions invented by this clique had mostly been making the social media rounds anonymously.

    Read Also: Nobody must maltreat Osinbajo – Northern youths

    “I have today instructed the commencement of legal action against two individuals, one Timi Frank and another Katch Ononuju, who have put their names to these odious falsehoods.

    “I will waive my constitutional immunity to enable the most robust adjudication of these claims of libel and malicious falsehood.” he said

  • $9.6b award: Fed Govt raises 13 points against P&ID, exposes trick clause in MoU

    Twenty Four hours to its sitting, the Federal Government team has raised 13 grounds on why a London court should reverse the $9.6billion judgment secured against Nigeria by Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID).

    The delegation has also  exposed the trick clause used by P&ID to secure the Gas Supply and Processing Agreement (GSPA), which led to  the controversial arbitration award.

    The government has discovered that the Memorandum of Understanding on the gas contract was signed in 2009 by P&ID Nigeria Limited with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

    But, a trick clause was inserted in the MoU, which allowed the British Virgin Island (BVI)- registered P&ID to replace the original contractual party, P&ID Nigeria Limited, to sign the contract on January 11, 2010.

    The team said the P&ID case cannot stand because the contract was fraudulent.

    According to sources, who spoke with The Nation, the government was able to discover the supplanting of P&ID Nigeria Limited in the course of the ongoing probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Police and others security agencies.

    Read Also: Buhari at UN lashes P&ID for $9.6b swindle attempt

    The latest evidence is one of the strongest points to be tabled by Nigeria’s lawyers tomorrow when the legal battle on the arbitral award begins.

    Nigeria is also insisting that the contract was not  vetted by the office of the Attorney- General of the Federation and it was not taken to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for  approval.

    One of the sources said: “We are raising 13 grounds  of defence on Thursday against P&ID  for a stay of execution and a declaration of the arbitral award as a nullity, based on substantial evidence of fraud and economic sabotage.

    “Of importance, detectives have  discovered that the MoU for the GSPA was entered into with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources  by P&ID Nigeria Limited and the contract signed by P&ID of the British Virgin Island.

    “It was a contract filled with deception, with an ultimate target of swindling Nigeria. Our legal team has taken judicious notice of this amorphous clause.”

    The source added: “A contract of that magnitude cannot be valid until it has been vetted by the office of the Attorney- General of the Federation and taken to the Federal Executive Council for approval. None of these was done. The sham contract was also signed in contravention of the infrastructural Regulatory Commission Act and Public Procurement Act.

    ”While the initial MOU for the project was signed in 2009 by P&ID Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian government (Ministry of Petroleum Resources), a ‘trick’ clause in the MoU was curiously activated that allowed British Virgin Island (BVI) registered P&ID to replace the original contractual party, P&ID Nigeria Limited, to sign the contract in January 11, 2010.

    “ P&ID incorporated in the British Virgin Island is a Shell Company that has no history of any business except the phantom gas supply project in Nigeria. There was no board resolution approving the assignment of the contractual interest to the BVI registered entity.

    ” P&ID never kick started the construction of the project facility, it claimed to have incurred $40 million in preliminary expenses. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed that there is no record of such investment, or any transaction related to the gas project in Nigeria by P&ID from 2010 to date.

    “There is no proof of any initial commitment by P&ID toward the execution and implementation as its own obligations as stipulated in the agreement signed in 2010.

    “P&ID could not meet any of the requirements the company was asked to provide. They include:

    • Updated proposal for the gas processing and utilisation
    • Identification of project site
    • Land acquisition
    • MoU with other agencies pertaining to gas processing in Nigeria
    • Evidence of financial capacity

    Another source, who is privileged to be involved in the investigation and legal battle against P&ID, said the contract was a sham dotted with bribery and corruption.

    The source said: “Suspicious payments were made to Mrs. Grace Taiga who, as the Legal Director in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, was vested with the responsibility of providing legal counsel to the Federal Government and ensuring that the interest of the country was adequately protected in the contract. Industrial Consultants International limited, a company associated with P&ID, made two transfers to Ms. Taiga in 2017 and 2018. These transfers could only have been made in appreciation of the ‘good deed’ done to the company by Mrs. Taiga, which has entitled her to agreed or perpetual benefits.

    ”There was no budgetary provision for the implementation of the GSPA in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in 2010 while the P&ID did not have any licence to deal in petroleum product.

    “The firm also failed to file tax returns and pay VAT to the Federal Inland Revenue Service as required by law.

    ”The unprecedented $9.6 billion in arbitration award to P&ID is an unreasonable reward to a company that has done nothing more than to engage in fraud and economic sabotage.

    “Not only does this run against the course of justice, but more importantly, failing to recognize this sham would bring harm and hardship to Nigeria, as well as the wider region.

    ”Two directors of P&ID in Nigeria have been convicted of charges of money laundering and economic sabotage. Muhammad Kuchazi, commercial director of P&ID, the British Virgin Islands, and Adamu Usman, a director of the company in Nigeria, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of economic sabotage and money laundering at a Federal High Court in Abuja last Thursday.”

    It was learnt that the government delegation in the United Kingdom has so far succeeded in setting the records straight to stakeholders, investors and the media.

    Another source said: “We have been going round in the last three days to meet with the critical segments of the UK society. We discovered that many stakeholders did not have balanced information on what led to the $9.6billion, which was a judicial ambush.

    ”The dispute that led to Arbitration between the Nigerian government (Ministry of Petroleum Resources) and the Irish engineering company P&ID arose from a 20-year Gas Supply and Processing Agreement (GSPA) entered in 2010 between the two parties in respect of an accelerated gas development project in Nigeria’s OMLs 67 and 123.

    “P&ID’s claim in the arbitration proceedings was mainly for loss of profit for the entire 20-year term of the GSPA, initially claiming the sum of  $1.9 billion and later increasing its claim to  $5.9 billion.

    “The Arbitral Tribunal on 3lst January, 2017, rendered its Final Award against Nigeria (Ministry of Petroleum Resources) in the sum of  $6.597 billion together with pre-award interest at the rate of seven per cent per annum effective from 20th March 2013 and post-award interest at the same rate till date of payment. This interest has increased the size of the award to $9.6 billion.

    “In arriving at this decision, the tribunal ignored the ruling of a Federal High Court in Lagos that the award be set aside.

    “On Friday 16 August 2019 at the United Kingdom’s Business & Property Courts (the Commercial Court), Mr. Justice Butcher granted P&ID’s enforcement application which converts the arbitration award secured by P&ID into a domestic UK judgment against Nigeria.”

  • Puyol turns down offer to be Barcelona’s sporting director

    Former captain Carles Puyol has rejected Barça’s offer to become the club’s new sporting director.

    He explained that several personal projects prevent him from dedicating himself exclusively to Barça.

    “Good afternoon everyone, in recent weeks, different news about my possible incorporation to Barcelona as Sporting Director has been published.

    “That is why I feel obliged to communicate to the whole family I knew that, after weighing a lot.”

    “I have decided not to accept the Club offer. It has not been an easy decision, since I have always said that I would like to return to what I consider my home, but several personal projects in which I am immersed”

    “I would be prevented at this time from giving you the exclusive dedication that the position deserves.

    “I would like to thank the club for the trust placed in me by offering me this position of so much responsibility.”