Metro
Nigeria: Following UK ruling, former President Buhari reflects on P&ID contract scam
Published
1 year agoon
Former Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has given his government the praise in the country’s legal triumph over UK firm, Process & Industrial Development (P&ID), which would have set back the nation by a whopping $11 billion in accumulated cost.
The long-drawn case began in 2017 following a 2010 agreement between P$ID and the Federal Government, with the firm pledging to build a gas processing plant in Cross River State.
The project never saw the light of day which led to P&ID suing the Nigerian government for lost profits. A UK court also granted the company an accumulated daily percentage which grew over the years to $11 billion, which further became a point of contention with Nigeria challenging the award.
However, the case came to a close on Monday, October 23 when Justice Robert Knowles of the Business and Property Court in London held that the process through which P&ID secured the contract was fraudulent and dismissed the case against Nigeria.
While reacting to the favourable ruling on Sunday, Buhari said if the case had gone against Nigeria, such monetary loss could have set the country back in many ways, and advised that the amount should be substituted to finance key infrastructural projects.
In an extensive article, Buhari took a dive into the P&ID scam and stressed the importance of following legal processes in dispute resolution.
“Had Nigeria lost, it would have required schools not to be built, nurses not to be trained and roads not to be repaired, on an epic scale, to pay a handful of contractors, lawyers and their allies – for a project that never broke ground,” the former president opined.
“How did it get to this point? How did Nigeria prevail? Was this a one-off, or par for a shabby and distasteful course? What are the lessons for the future?” he asked.
“The ‘P&ID Affair’ was already firmly set by the time I came into office in 2015. A company registered in the British Virgin Islands that no one had heard of, with hardly any staff or assets, had won a contract to build a gas processing plant in Cross River.
“The company was owned by Irish intermediaries who knew Nigeria well and had done business in everything from healthcare to fixing tanks.
“The previous government could not supply the gas. The plant was never built. Construction was not started. P&ID did not even buy the land for the facility.
“But the contract, incredibly, was clear: P&ID could sue Nigeria, and claim all the profits it might have made over 20 years as if everything had been completed.
“Nigeria was in court in London, trying to talk down liability and costs. Back at home, fixers were looking to work out a quiet settlement. This is often the way. A lot of contracts end up in dispute.
“P&ID won a settlement in 2017 of $6 billion, with compound interest. People, including ex-British Cabinet Minister Priti Patel, were queuing up to insist we pay, or risk Nigeria becoming an untrustworthy trade pariah.
“It was clear that far from the whole story had been told. I tasked Abba Kyari, my Chief-of-staff and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, with finding a way, even at that late stage and despite so much conflicting advice, to get us a fair hearing.
“Working with a number of different agencies and senior officials of government, we began to find a huge amount of evidence, not all of which Justice Knowles was to accept. But he agreed that P&ID had paid bribes.
“He agreed that one of P&ID’s founders had committed perjury. And he agreed that P&ID had somehow found in its possession a steady supply of Nigeria’s privileged internal legal documents, outlining our plans, strategies and problems.
“My own view is that this whole sorry affair shows how important it is to follow the legal process in resolving a dispute. It shows that given time and opportunity for each side to present their case, the temple of justice can satisfactorily resolve all disputes without resorting to extra-judicial measures.
“It was definitely worth the struggle: this was an attempted heist of historic proportions, an attempt to steal from the treasury a third of Nigeria’s foreign reserves”, Buhari wrote.
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Metro
‘Don’t start what you can’t finish’, ex-Nigerian official replies President Tchiani
Published
1 week agoon
December 29, 2024Former Nigerian Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has told President Abdourahamane Tchiani of Niger Republic to refrain from making infantile and puerile allegations that Nigeria is conniving with France and the Lakurawa terrorists to destabilize his country.
Tchiani had, during an interview with Radio-Télévision du Niger on December 25, accused the Nigerian government of using the sect, with the help of foreign security forces notably from France, to wreck havoc in his country, insinuating that President Bola Tinubu had been paid by the France government to allow their military to establish a base in Borno State.
He also alleged that Nigeria, acting in collaboration with the French government and the terrorist group, was responsible for an attack on the Niger-Benin oil pipeline on December 13, 2024, in Gaya, Dosso Region of Niger Republic.
But in a statement he posted on his official X handle on Sunday, Fani-Kayode who is popularly called FFK, said Nigeria does not need the help of France and thr Lakurawa terrorist to destabilize Niger Republic.
FFK insisted that Nigeria is not part of the western powers sponsoring terrorists organizations to wretch havoc on the West African sub region.
“If Nigeria wanted to destabilise Niger Republic, I do not believe that we would need France or any terrorist organisation to do so,” the politician wrote.
He noted that on the contrary, western powers are the ones behind terrorist organizations operating in the region and other parts of Africa.
“I have maintained that the western powers are behind the terrorist groups that have plagued the West African sub region over the last 15 years and for the last ten years I have publicly stated this and given my reasons.
“I am equally certain that Nigeria, being one of the major victims of these terrorist organisations, has had no part in it and that no Nigerian President, past or present, has indulged in such grave and dangerous actions.”
He went on to advice Tchiani against provoking Nigeria with unguarded and infantile utterances capable of stoking Nigeria against his country.
“The Nigerien Military Head of State, Abdourahamane Tchiani, would do well to be careful not to provoke our wrath with his absurd assertions and remain mindful of the fact that the defence budget for his country, Mali and Burkina Faso COMBINED is not up to 25% of Nigeria’s.
“Tchiani’s grave allegations that President Tinubu and NSA Nuhu Ribadu have been bought by the French to destabilise Niger Republic, that our Government is jointly sponsoring a terrorist group with France to do same and that there are French military bases in Nigeria are infantile, puerile, mendacious and asinine.
“It is a squalid attempt by the Nigerien Head of State to sow the seeds of dissention in our country, to alienate our people from constituted authority, to divide our people and to undermine the Tinubu administration,” he added.
“It is also highly provocative and the FG should consider the possibility of taking other more extreeme measures if this reckless provocation continues.
“We are under no obligation to show restraint when we are being undermined and maligned.
Metro
Zambia announces second case of Mpox as country battles cholera outbreak
Published
1 week agoon
December 28, 2024The Zambian Ministry of Health has reported a second case of Monkeypox, popularly known as Mpox, in Kitwe region of Copperbelt Province.
Acting Health Minister, Douglas Syakalima, who made the announcement on Friday during a press conference in Lusaka, revealed that the Ministry is intensifying contact tracing and surveillance to curb further spread of the disease.
Syakalima who also addressed the ongoing cholera outbreak in Nakonde, Muchinga Province, said thus far, seven cases have been confirmed.
“The second Mpox case involves a 34-year-old female from Ndeke, Kitwe, who presented with symptoms including rash, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and oral ulcers on December 21,” Syakalima said at the press parley.
He noted that there was an initial misdiagnosis with chickenpox in Lumwana, North-Western Province, but laboratory tests on December 26 confirmed that it was Mpox.
Syakalima added that the patient’s husband, who works in a neighboring country with confirmed Mpox cases, had experienced similar symptoms earlier this month.
“Both patients are now stable and under close monitoring. A rapid response team has been deployed to trace contacts and prevent further spread,” he said, adding that eight close contacts of the couple are currently under observation, while nationwide surveillance has been heightened.
The Health Minister added that on December 26, five cholera cases were confirmed at Nakonde Urban Clinic with the first three patients, a husband, wife, and their son, admitted on December 24 with symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration, and shock.
“Today, two more cases have been reported, bringing the total to seven confirmed cholera cases from the same household,” Syakalima stated.
He explained that Nakonde’s location as a border town with high cross-border movement poses a risk for the disease to spread to other parts of the country.
The Minister however, assured that the Ministry has deployed teams to trace contacts, chlorinate water sources, disinfect affected homes, and activate Incident Management Systems at district and provincial levels while surveillance has been heightened, and contact tracing is ongoing for 33 individuals.
“The government remains committed to preventing further spread of these diseases,” Syakalima assured.
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