Nigeria, it appears, is in a dizzying season of shocking revelations of a momentum classic drama. Every passing day comes with tawdry news that is scandalously embarrassing and painful like being kicked in the stomach. Maybe, the country and its citizens have become used to tolerating drama well as every news that hits the headlines looks pretty much like a tragicomedy that people troop out to watch at a cinema. And the storyline seems very much like the portrait of two conmen who wouldn’t mind to dance naked in the Market Square. Each episode opens with a disheartening narrative of two con and crazy characters, then a sop, followed by a horror fight that leaves the audience in utter bafflement. You can’t watch anymore but asked in exasperation, how come these two characters have turned into clowns and become turns in the tumbril? Why have they not learnt any lessons from the past? Or is the embarrassment they have brought upon themselves and their country in their DNA?
The puzzles may not be easy to untie. That’s the pain of how Nigeria has become a huge joke within the international community in recent days. Nothing learnt, nothing forgotten. Like a ‘new normal’, shame has become a sort of passé, beyond shock and embarrassment. That’s the synopsis of the ongoing sad story and new twists following the seizure of three presidential jets, the symbol of Nigeria’s government and national image. A recap: the seizure of the presidential jets, even though one has reportedly been released last week ahead of President Tinubu’s visit to France President Emmanuel Macron, resulted from a long-standing dispute with the Chinese company – Zhongshan Funcheng Industrial Investment and the Ogun state government to develop a Free-trade zone where a massive Industrial park was to be built to attract investors.
A Free-trade zone is an area where goods can be moved in and out of a country at reduced or no taxes or fees. The agreement was said to have been terminated between 2015 and 2016 by the then Governor of Ogun State Ibukunle Amosun, now a Senator. According to London-based Financial Times, Zhongshan said it was forced out of the deal through a “campaign of illegal acts”. The presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga and the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi(SAN), had in their separate statements fiercely condemned the seizure of the jets, and suggested that the Chinese firm had an ulterior motive of “undercutting and scamming” the government of Nigeria, and mounting a wider campaign to seize Nigeria’s assets overseas. Mr Onanuga described the ongoing saga as “arm-twisting” tactic by the Chinese company. The AGF pleaded “sovereign immunity” that should bar the Chinese company from seizing the planes.
The presidential jets were reported to be “receiving maintenance” at the time before they were grounded after the Chinese company obtained order from the Judicial Court of Paris. Quoting State House sources, Sunday Punch had reported on June 23, 2024, that the Federal Government spent N14.77bn in eleven months on maintenance of the presidential jets. It may also be recalled that in March 2021, an arbitration Tribunal chaired by the United Kingdom Supreme Court awarded a hefty $74.5m in compensation to the Chinese firm. Ogun state government was reported to have refused to pay the amount. Buildings belonging to the federal government in Liverpool in Britain were recently seized by a UK court in relation to the same dispute. Last Friday, a United States Court of Appeal said the Chinese firm could proceed with its efforts to confiscate Nigeria’s assets abroad.
The U.S. court had rejected federal government’s plea of “sovereign immunity”. Sen. Amosun has since issued a statement in his own defence of the deal that went sour. He said it was a case of a dispute between two Chinese firms, and that the Chinese investors duped him. Renowned economist, Prof Pat Utomi has come forward to claim that, like the Chinese firm, he was a victim of Amosun whom he alleged dribbled him and left him in debts over a business transaction. Amosun’s explanation against the Chinese firm seems to me like a very simplistic and weak defence of this very embarrassing saga that smells very much like the Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) case and lessons not learnt from that. Remember that the P&ID matter took a long legal battle spanning several years before the Federal Government could secure a pyrrhic victory. Nigeria was spared the payment of damages totaling $11.5billion at the worst possible economic time that the country now faces. The amount, like the present saga, represents the claim of alleged failed contract agreement and interest accruing to it for the construction of a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River state, purportedly awarded to P&ID in 2010.
However, victory came Nigeria’s way following the Judgment of the Commercial Court of England and Wales, presided by Justice Robin Knowles that halted the enforcement of the $11bn plus interest instituted by P&ID. A summary of the case shows that the deal failed in 2012, and the company sought from the London Court of International Arbitration Tribunal an initial compensation of $5.96bn from the Nigerian government. In 2017, the Arbitration Tribunal ruled in favour of P&ID and awarded the sum of $6.6bn against Nigeria, with interest fixed at seven percent(or $1milliom daily), effective, May 2013. The accumulated interest increased to $11.5bn before the Court in England quashed payment of the damages against the Nigerian government. Earlier, the Arbitration Tribunal had unanimously ruled that Nigeria breached the contract deal with P&ID for the Gas Supply and Processing Agreement( GSPA)that frustrated the building of the gas supply project.
But in dismissing the claims by P&ID, Justice Knowles agreed with Nigeria’s legal team that the contract was obtained by fraud. In his words, “in the circumstances and reasons I have sought… I have not accepted all Nigeria’s allegations, but the awards were obtained by fraud, and the way in which they were procured was contrary to public policy”. The Judge also found that P&ID had given bribes to a Nigerian oil ministry official in connection with the gas contract and had failed to disclose this when it took Nigeria to the Arbitration Tribunal over the collapse of the contract deal . On its part, P&ID had claimed that Nigeria violated the terms of its agreement by falling to provide gas for the power plant it wanted to build for the country, which it agreed to during the administration of late President Umaru Yar’Adua, and as a result, had been deprived of the “potential benefits” expected from 20 years’ worth of gas supplies with anticipated profits of between $5 and $6bn”.
The Goodluck Jonathan administration wanted an out-of- court agreement for the payment of $850 million and passed it on to his successor, Muhammadu Buhari. But Buhari refused to pay the negotiated sum. Instead, the federal government challenged the enforcement of the award before the English Commercial Court, and filed an appeal in September 2020. Lawyers for Nigeria contended that there was enough evidence that the contract and arbitration award were procured by fraud and urged the court to set the award aside. The Court granted Nigeria’s request for a stay of execution of any asset seizure of Nigeria abroad while its legal challenge was pending.
Nonetheless, the court did order Nigeria to pay the sum of $200 million to the court within 60 days. One had thought that going forward,the P&ID case should have served as an eye-opener, a wake-up call for the country. With new twists unraveling, it’s not clear yet how the present case will end. It’s all about bad leadership. It’s not enough for two former Ogun state Governors – Gbenga Daniel and Amosun- to “unite” against the Chinese firm and called the company a “scammer”. That may deepen the dispute, particularly as a French Court has already ordered for the seizure of Nigeria’s assets overseas. Tinubu should not heed Amosun’s bragging that he(Tinubu) not to give a listening ear to the Chinese firm. That’s sounds childish.
The way to go is for the federal government to deploy all diplomatic measures towards resolving the matter in a no winner, no loser, situation. Perhaps of critical importance is the fact that China is Nigeria’s largest import partner. The two countries also have strong trade relations. Besides, a huge percentage of Nigeria’s external loans comes from China, and the country can go for Nigeria’s jugular if it chooses. If in doubt, ask the Zambian government. However this saga ends, this must serve as a lesson learnt the hard way. It should renew public debate about whether President Tinubu should have multiple jets, funded by taxpayers at this time when ordinary Nigerians are struggling against intense economic crisis that led to this month’s #EndBadGovernance protest in many parts of the country, with many lives lost in the country. Tinubu, over to you!