Adetutu Folasade-Koyi

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to probe the circumstances surrounding Nigeria’s contractual agreement with Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID).

The President also ordered a full-scale criminal investigation to uncover local and foreign collaborators in the deal, against the backdrop of a $9.6 billion debt payment awarded P&ID by a United Kingdom court, on Friday, August 16.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and his colleagues in the ministries of Justice, Finance and National Planning, Malami and Zainab Ahmed, respectively, in company with the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday.

This was just as the AGF opened up that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, which had the contractual agreement with P&ID, was not constitutionally empowered to do so, as it was not a producer of gas.

The information minister has, however, stated that there was no immediate threat to Nigeria’s assets, even as the country has appealed the ruling.

He said, “We want to place on record that the Federal Government views with serious concerns the underhanded manner in which the contract was negotiated and signed. Indications are that the whole process was carried out by some vested interests in the past administration, which apparently colluded with their local and international conspirators to inflict grave economic injury on Nigeria and its people.

“In view of the above, and in an attempt to unravel the circumstances surrounding the entire transaction, the Attorney-General of the Federation, with the approval of Mr. President, has requested the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the National Intelligence Agency and the Inspector-General of Police, to conduct a thorough investigation into the company, the circumstances surrounding the agreement and the subsequent event, which includes commencing a full-scale criminal investigation.

“Despite the recent recognition of the award by a UK court and, contrary to some reports, Nigeria is not about to lose any of its assets to P&ID.

“There is no imminent threat to Nigeria’s assets. In the first instance, the enforcement of the award cannot even commence now because the judge in the UK court ordered that the P&ID cannot enforce the judgment against Nigeria until after the court resumes from its current vacation.

“What this means is that enforcement action cannot begin until further hearing on the matter, which will take place on a date to be determined by the court upon its resumption.

“The Federal Government, therefore, wishes to use this opportunity to assure Nigerians that there is no immediate threat to Nigeria’s assets.

“Nigerians should be assured that the Federal Government is taking  all necessary steps to appeal the decision of the UK court, to seek a stay of execution of the decision to defend its rights and to protect the assets of the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nigerians should, please, be assured that the Federal Government will strongly avail itself of all defences customarily afforded to sovereign states under the United Kingdom Sovereign Immunity Act to stave off any enforcement of the award.”

On his part, Malami explained that the criminal investigation became necessary because it was established that the contract was designed to fail, ab initio.

He stated that preliminary investigations have revealed local and international conspiracy in the purported gas contract.

“The investigation, indeed, became necessary in view of certain antecedents relating to the contract in its own right and the eventual award.

“Insinuations abound that the contract was originally designed to fail fundamentally against the background of the fact that there were inherent elements of breaches in it, right from inception.

“When I talk of inherent elements of breaches, I want to draw attention to the fact that, by the composition of the parties in the agreement, there were two parties, the P&ID and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and, as you rightly know, the ministry is not a producer of gas.

“Gas products are produced by international oil companies (IOCs), and, perhaps, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

“So, when you concede, sign and execute a contract to supply gas products without involving IOCs or NNPC as a party in that agreement, how do you intend to execute it?

“These, among others, gave rise to insinuations of certain criminal conspiracies right from the conception of the agreement. The fact remains that you cannot sign an agreement to provide a product that you do not have.

“The Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources does not have oil wells or gas products, so, how can the ministry sign an agreement without bringing on board those who are the custodians and producers of the gas products for the purpose of supply?

“It is against this background that we feel there is need for comprehensive criminal investigation, for the purpose of identifying what undertones are, indeed, criminal.

“So, within the context of the appreciation that the contract was originally designed not to succeed and entered into by parties that were not entitled to execute such agreement, it is not out of place to embark on large-scale criminal investigation, for the purpose of identifying if there are elements of local or international conspiracy for the purpose of subjecting Nigerians into serious economic loss we are apparently subjected to,” he said.

The finance minister admitted that the ruling was “a very weighty one.”

Ahmed said: “An award of $9.6 billion is equivalent to N3.5 trillion. This amount in our national budget will be covering for us personnel costs, which is about N3.2 trillion.

“This award is unreasonable, excessive and exorbitant; it is also unfair and an assault on every Nigerian. It’s beyond trying to compensate for a commercial interest.”

Emefiele, the CBN governor, insisted it was a phantom contract as it did not exist in the records of Nigeria’s apex bank: “We have read that the contractor mentioned it invested about $40 million in the project.

“On our part, as CBN, we know P&ID is a foreign company and, as a foreign company, when investing either a contract or a project in Nigeria, there are various options that you would adopt in bringing in your investment.

“We have gone through our records, we don’t have any information in our records to show that this company brought one cent into this country and we have, accordingly, written to the EFCC and the Intelligence Department of the Nigerian Police and they are currently investigating this matter.

“The money they want to take is our commonwealth and belongs to all of us. So, it is very sad that we find some Nigerians collaborating with some foreign interest under bogus intentions of trying to defraud this country. There is no record of Form A and Form M anywhere in our records.

“If P&ID has proof of their investment, we are calling on them to, please, come forward and provide us evidence of how they invested in this country. The attorney-general had said that the contract was already designed to fail from the beginning.

“In CBN, no evidence shows that a foreign company that came into this country deserved to be awarded a $9.6bn contract without investing a cent in Nigeria.”