Mohammed Shosanya

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN,says the quashing of the $11bn arbitral award previously made against Nigeria, in 2017, in favour of Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID), was a “damning indictment of predatory international investors.

According to him,the judgment also serves as a damning indictment of predatory international investors, who should now rightfully be deterred from preying upon Nigeria and other developing nations to satisfy their greed.

Justice Robin Knowles of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales, on Monday, quashed the $11bn arbitral award in the case marked CL-2019-000752, filed in a Business and Property court in London.

The Federal Government had gone to court to overturn the $6.6bn arbitration award made in favour of P&ID in 2017.

Reacting,the AGF said the judgment found that the award had been obtained by fraud and in a way which was contrary to public policy.

He noted that the arbitral award had over the years placed the assets of Nigeria and those of its agencies all over the world at the risk of attachment, erosion of foreign reserves and distortion of monetary, fiscal and other policies of government with attendant dire consequences for Nigeria and its people.

He added:”This successful result is a decisive victory for the people of Nigeria who stood to lose over US$11 billion, and for the Nigerian administration which has now reached a milestone in its mission to challenge the scourge of corruption.

“P&ID and its associates both Nigerians and foreigners alike, shamelessly attempted to defraud the country and enrich themselves through sharing the FRN’s privileged documents, fraud, bribery and corruption on an industrial scale.

“Those efforts, which took place over many years, have finally been uncovered for all to see” the AGF stated.

“For us in this administration, it has been a night of long knives!

“This success marks the culmination of over a decade of legal action and is not just a victory for the people of Nigeria, but any similar target of corruption and fraud” Fagbemi said.

The AGF pointed out that several agents of P&ID made overtures to the government for settlement of the case.

“However, the resolve of the
administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to go hands in gloves with fraudulent counterparties or condone corruption informed the position of the FRN to hold fast to its position not to settle” the Justice Minister disclosed.

Fagbemi in a statement on Monday, described the judgment as historic and very significant in the annals of Nigeria and indeed Africa.

“This judgement has vindicated the government and should serve as a pointer to others who might be nursing or nurturing any plan to swindle Nigeria.

“The success recorded was as a result of close inter-agency collaboration of the FGN Team comprising the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation (HAGF)/ Federal Ministry of Justice (FMoJ), Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Central bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ministry of Petroleam Resources (MPR), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Department of State Security (DSS) and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU)” he said.

Besides,the AGF hinted that there would be further hearings by the UK court on the heels of the judgement to determine costs payable by P&ID and other matters.

Mr Justice Robin St John Knowles of the United Kingdom Commercial Court handed down the judgement in the suit where the Federal Republic of Nigeria moved to set aside the arbitral award of US$9.6 (now circa USD11 Billion) made against it in 2017, in favour of Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID) for an alleged breach of a Gas Supply and Processing Agreement (GSPA) it purportedly entered into with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources (MPR) to establish a gas processing plant in Calabar for which P&ID never ever secured any land site.

The Judge had concluded that P&ID obtained the award only by “practising the most severe abuses of the arbitral process”.

John Knowles further noted “That this case has also, sadly, brought together a combination of examples of what some individuals would do for money. Driven by greed and prepared to use corruption; giving no thought to what their enrichment would mean in terms of harm to other.”

Mohammed Shosanya

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), and the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) have emerged as overall top-performing agencies in compliance with the 2022 Executive Order 001.

This was contained in the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) 2023 half year compliance report released on Monday

The Compliance report was released during a stakeholder sensitization session with Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and it fulfills the Council’s continued commitment to track compliance with the Executive Order on promoting Transparency and Efficiency in the Nigerian business environment.

She said,”Over the past six years, the PEBEC has consistently published EO1 Compliance Reports, providing an empirical analysis of the monthly reports from MDAs.

“An MDA’s EO1 performance score is based on Efficiency and Transparency measures, with a 70% to 30% ratio, respectively.

“Efficiency measures compliance with service delivery timelines and directives of the EO1, while Transparency is assessed based on website updates, online service portals, detailed service information, timelines, costs, statutory requirements, and customer service contact details. The latest EO1 Compliance Report covers January 2023 to June 2023.

“The top five performing MDAs during this period are the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) with an impressive 83.06%, followed by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) at 82.85%, and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) ranking third with 69.85%” said Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, the Special Adviser to the President on PEBEC & Investment.

According to her, the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) also secured the fourth and fifth positions, scoring 67.99% and 64.01%, respectively.

She urged the MDAs to leverage the findings in the report to deliver the much-needed improvement in transparency and efficiency of public service delivery to improve the Nigerian business environment.

She said,the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) was established in July 2016 by the Federal Government to oversee Nigeria’s business environment intervention with the dual mandate of removing bureaucratic and legislative constraints to doing business and improving the perception of the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

Oduwole stated that the Council is chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, adding that the 2023 Half-Year EO1 Compliance Report is available for download on the PEBEC website.

Speaking,Amadi Ikpe, the Desk Officer for the Service Delivery Compliance for Nigerian Agriculture Quarantine Service, representing the Reform Champion for the meeting, said PEBEC interventions have been great, stressing that before PEBEC, trade facilitation was not at the pace that it is currently.

“PEBEC brought in a structure that helps to deal with all the challenges that trade facilitation had been facing so far without having individuals to be physically involved in the process.

“That is to say that you have a structure that helps to prevent rent seeking without policing the people. You have a process to evaluate how well you are serving the people and areas you can improve on without having to think too far. So they put in data analytics into their system and that is what has made it smooth.

“The figures are there, and you know numbers don’t lie. So that has helped to improve trade facilitation so far and has helped us as agencies that give this services at the border to improve our processes on our own. Their reporting system helps gather information and has been more critical to our own processes and our standard of operations than we believe it would have been” he said.

Mohammed Shosanya

President Bola Tinubu,says his administration will grow the nation’s economy to $1 trillion by 2026,and increase it to $3 trillion by the end of 2030.

Tinubu,gave the assurance on Monday in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the 29th Nigerian Economic Summit(NES 29) organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.

He asserted that it was possible for his administration to walk the talk on the $1trillion economy in three years.

He said: “Distinguished ladies and Gentlemen, a $1 trillion economy is possible by the year 2026 and a $3 trillion economy is possible within this decade. We can do it.”

“We’ve done double-digit inclusive and sustainable competitive growth. This is our agenda and I’d like to charge you- the captains of industry here present, to commit yourselves to and redouble your effort to our vision of a renewed hope.”

The President,who revealed his administration’s plans to stabilize the economy through the collaboration with the private sector and all critical stakeholders, stressed the need for the provision of sustainable credit scheme.

He said such credit scheme would aid an effective anti-corruption campaign and fight.

He added:”There must be consumer credit, the scheme will have to come into effect as soon as possible.

“I charge my team and colleagues to build this programme and develop it now. We cannot talk about anti-corruption when you have to look for cash to buy a car”

He further assured investors and business men that his government inherited the assets and liabilities of the government with regard to the foreign exchange and financial market.

He noted that the administration has a good line of sight about FX liquidity and will honour all foreign exchange forward contracts entered by the government.

He said: “To mobilise finance for economic development, we have started local and external mobilisation of financial resources and capital from a wide range of partners amongst several initiatives. We are progressing forward”

“You have heard that the CBN removed about 43 items, I have read all the comments, but there must be a clear line between monetary policy and fiscal policy.

“Are these items on trade embargo? No. You simply move them to the parallel market.

“Let’s compete with whatever is available so that the government will work hard and bring more investment to the economy.”

Mohammed Shosanya

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has ordered the immediate suspension of international travels by all cabinet members, to reduce public spending.

The governor gave the directive in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, and made available to journalists in Osogbo, on Monday.

He gave the directive while hosting the State Executive Council meeting, on Thursday with key focus on treasury board decisions as it affects preparation for budget 2024 and landmark pronouncements on state governance.

Adeleke,who directed the immediate suspension of foreign travels by top officials, urged application of virtual meetings for attendance and participation at international business and investment events.

“Foreign trips for top officials for the rest of the year is hereby suspended unless there is a direct emergency to be authorized by the Governor”, the governor directed

The governor further instructed that state expenditure should henceforth be focussed on implementation of critical projects across the sectors.

According to him, “we must sustain the momentum of our service delivery by avoiding excessive spending on recurrent and overheads”

He also called for personal sacrifice on the part of cabinet members, positing that cabinet members and all members of the administration must demonstrate readiness to sacrifice in the face of the state’s harsh financial situation.

“Our needs from office to accommodation are much but our resources are limited. So we have to devise a coping mechanism pending the time our funding situation will improve” , he affirmed.

“As a way of enforcing efficiency in the governance process, the State Governor also directed the Head of Service to prepare a memo to streamline the relationship between the Commissioners and Special Advisers.

“While memos by Special Advisers must pass through the Permanent Secretary to the Commissioners, the Commissioners must ensure fair play and accommodating spirit” , the Governor declared in a move to pre-empt possible rivalry among top appointees.

“Members of the Council are to also note that I will be unveiling the administration’s N100 billion Infrastructure Plan by Thursday. The plan covers roads, health, water, housing among others.

“I invite us all to note that this Treasury board deliberations are critical to the achievement of our governance goals. We must take it with all seriousness”, the governor affirmed.