The award of a fine of $6.6B with an attraction of additional $2.3B in accumulated interest against the Ministry Of Petroleum Resources has once again brought to the fore, the laxity of the handlers in the nation’s affairs. This penalty was handed down by a U.S District Court in Washington D.C. in favour of Process and industrial Development Limited for a breach of contract (P& ID).
The agreement, a gas supply, and processing contract were signed between the Ministry Of Petroleum Resources and the engineering firm, the P& ID company on January 11, 2010.
P& ID was to build an Accelerated Gas Development project in Cross River state while the Federal Government was to source for natural gas from OMLs 123 and 67 and supply to P& ID to refine into fuel suitable for power generation in the country.
It is quite disheartening that the contract which could have brought in substantial income for the government was neglected under the watch of the then minister for Petroleum (Allison Madueke) and further truncated by the inaction of the Buhari administration.
It is quite pertinent to note the fact that the Jonathan administration had minuted to the incoming administration of the need to defray the penalty which stood at $850m as at April 29,2015 but for the six heavy months in which President Buhari was yet to approve a cabinet, the fine wouldn’t have become this huge.
The major concern regarding this fine is that government has overtime paid lip-service to the issue of monetization of gas flares without attendant proactive measures to stem the anomaly in the bud. The laws and political will meant to monetize gas are so distant that the citizenry is at a loss on the reason why the nation has refused to replicate the success in NLNG.
The most distasteful of all is the expertise in buck-passing as no one is willing to assume responsibility for the state of affairs in the country. For the fact that Nigeria is good at running into the signing of agreements without carefully consulting with a competent legal team and then cry foul when reality dawns on them, indicates the level of incompetence displayed by the representatives.
Otherwise, how on earth could anyone allow a great deal of monetizing gas slip off only to be fined for more than the amount needed for the laying of the gas network? How do we convince our leaders that government is a continuum and that it is preposterous to embark on fresh ambiguous projects while abandoning previous ones?
How do we make the managers of the economy realize that just as they make budgetary provision for servicing debts yearly, the same applies to achieving of milestones in the realization of a project cycle?
The executive and the legislature have refused to see the insanity in making allocating greater expenditure in running their portfolios rather than adhering to sustainable investments in Capital projects.
It is a great disservice to the people of Niger Delta and Nigeria as a whole that the pollution synonymous with the region is left to deteriorate while other nations are racing to save their environment.
The calamity of the fine was further capped by the $21.24m in favour of ENRON Nigeria Power Holding Limited. ENRON had signed an MOU with the Lagos State government for the first and second stages of a power project. They went further to sign another agreement with the National Electric Power Authority (Power Purchaser and regulator) with the Nigerian government as guarantor in the year 1999.
The Attorney-General then had to wait for the criticism of the World Bank on the draft of the PPA before knowing that it was signed in bad faith. The same shame of procrastination and not acting timely that led to the fine in favour of P& ID also, was shown by the Jonathan Administration. Most worrisome is that the Minister of power was a reputable technocrat with a beautiful CV.
The culpable people in this whole arbitration saga remain the attorney generals of each successive administration. It is expected that the attorney general would give the government the best advice and act in the interest of the nation at all times.
However, what is seen nowadays is either the Attorney General trying to benefit selfishly while exposing the nation or refusing to outrightly resign as a sign of honour.
That brings us to the topic of character. What a man stands for readily defines him as that will always be what distinguishes him in the case of an upright individual. The AG seen as the eye of the law in all nation is meant to be a man of impeccable character. He must possess a high sense for responsible decisions that must be timely and not one who hides and dodges from a problem.
The level of character will determine if the AG could resign in protest if his expert advice on state matters is not respected as we see in other climes. Recently, the Minister for the environment in France, Nicholas Hulot resigned his position as Minister for Environment because he felt President Macron was not adhering to the Paris protocol.
The desperation for power and eye service to please the principal has caused Nigeria her life-line as we see in the fine issued by the two courts of arbitration. The most worrisome of all is that agreements and MOUs are being signed continually by this present administration without recourse to the scrutiny of an adequate legal team.
The President’s several trips to China are often littered with Governors and ministers who embark on the trip without being of any economic value to either the nation or their states. It took a world outcry before China could cancel the “Slave contract” it entered with Congo in the 90s.
Nigeria needs a leader who is knowledgeable, proactive, prudent and decisive. Nigeria needs a leader who can break the chains and fetters of the invincible cabal that has held the nation hostage over the years.
We just cannot afford further errors as we are already on the brinks considering the massive foreign debt profile hanging over our head like an albatross.
This coming election is the time for us to finally choose between the survival/revival of our economic prowess or wallow in the eternal doom of slavery to ourselves and the world at large.
