The INTELS Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s leading oil and gas Logistics Company, has refused to officially comment on the report that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has again revoked its multi-billion dollar boats pilotage monitoring and supervision agreement, 17 months after it was renegotiated by both parties.
INTELS, which refused to answer BusinessDay questions, said it will issue official statement, after the all necessary consultation, as discussions are ongoing to arrest the situation.
However, a source close to INTELS, who claims anonymity, confirmed to BusinessDay that the contract was actually terminated in March immediately after the 2019 Presidential election.
The source, who blamed the development on ‘politics’, alleged the action was directed to bringing down Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in the 2019 general elections.
According to the source, it was presumed that Atiku Abubakar is a majority shareholder in the ownership of INTELS’ Oil and Gas Logistics business ran by Italians.
“It is politics according to African dictionary but in the process of bringing Atiku down, the NPA is destroying jobs and scaring investors away from Nigeria and as we speak about 10,000 Nigerians have been laid off since 2015 till date,” the source said.
The source further disclosed that, INTELS has been trying to manage the situation since March, as ‘discussions are ongoing to see what we can do’. “It is good the NPA exposed the situation so that the public will be the judge.”
Recall that the NPA in 2017 made move to revoke the pilotage agreement with INTELS, a 10-year contract, which was due to elapse in 2020.
Hadiza Bala-Usman, managing director of the NPA, said that her management questioned the contract, due to the refusal of INTELS to pay revenue generated from the pilotage contract into the treasury single account (TSA).
As result, the NPA sorted the advice of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, who described the agreement as illegal ‘ab initio, and requested the NPA move to exit the agreement.
According to a letter dated March 29, 2019, addressed to the managing director of INTELS, NPA said the decision to revoke the contract was taken in line with Article 8 (C) of its agreement with INTELS, dated February 11, 2011.
The letter reads: “The NPA (the principal ) hereby serves on you INTELS Nigeria Limited, (the Managing agent) notice of termination in line with article 8 (C) of its agreement with INTELS, dated 11th February, 2011, which said notice shall expire three months from the date issuance.”
Also, Mohammed Bello-Koko, executive director, Finance and Administration of the NPA said in a letter dated March 27, 2019, addressed to Hadiza Bala-Usman, managing director of NPA, that “INTELS has not complied with the presidential directive and circular on implementation of TSA and Article 4.1 of the executed supplemental agreement by refusing to remit the sum of $145, 849,309.33 being outstanding service boat revenue generated from November 1, 2017 to October 31, 2018.”
Bello-Koko stated that INTELS neither remitted the sum of $55.72 million, which it pledged to remit in a letter dated February 12, 2019, nor the sum of $145.84 million, which it demanded via various letters.
However, INTELS in a letter dated March 6, 2019, claimed it refused to comply with terms of agreement because the NPA claimed outstanding revenue of $145. 84 million, which covers the period of November 1, 2017 to October 31, 2018, was not true.
INTELS pledged to pay the sum of $55.70 million as revenue for period from November 1, 2017 to March 31, 2019 is predicated on authority’s payment of $19.67 million. It argued that the said unreconciled amount of $145. 84 million included revenue expected from both clients under INTELS agency and other agents.”
NPA, on the other hand, insisted it has reconciled the pilotage service contract with INTELS, which covers the period under contention.
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
