The Federal Government on Wednesday said it was studying a United Kingdom UK, commercial Court judgement which ruled that there is no evidence of fraud in the OPL 245 transaction between Nigeria and JP Morgan Chase Bank.
The Commercial Court of England and Wales on Tuesday June 14, 2022 ruled on the matter in Case No CL-2017-000730 as contained in its 137-paged judgement.
The Nigerian government had in 2011, lost $1.7 billion claims against JP Morgan Chase Bank over the transfer of proceeds from the sale of OPL 245 in 2011, in a judgement by an Italian court, which dismissed all corruption charges in the OPL 245 deal and discharged and acquitted all the defendants.
The Nigerian government had contended that the contract awarded to former Petroleum Minister Dan Etete, to explore the deep waters off the Gulf of Guinea was corrupt, alleging that the bank “ought to have known” that there was corruption and fraud in the transaction which saw Malabu sell its 100 per cent in OPL 245 to Shell and ENI for $1.1 billion.
Lawyers to the Nigerian government had also alleged that the bank ignored “glaring” red flags, including “overwhelming” evidence of fraud and stark warnings from its own compliance staff when it authorized the payments
Minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed while responding to questions from State House Correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chamber, Prresidential, Villa, Abuja, said the government’s lawyers will study the ruling and decide whether to appeal or not.
Mohammed said: “The last question is about Malabu Oil. I also read the judgement. Malabu oil and I think strangely enough, the judge said we were not able to establish that we lost $1.7 billion.
“But I also read further that the lawyer said that they are studying the judgement and they will take the appropriate step on whether to appeal or not.”
The Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Wednesday, approved the enactment of the Federal Fire and Rescue Service Establishment Act 2022.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the memo he presented to the council.
He said the new proposed law is meant to replace the old law establishing the Fire Service, which has been in existence for 60 years.
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According to him, “The Federal Executive Council today approved the repeal of the 60-year-old Fire Service Act Cap F29, LFN 2004 and in its stead, the council approved the enactment of the Federal Fire and Rescue Service Establishment Act 2022, which is meant to bring into currency the operations and professionalism of the Federal Fire Service as it delivers its services to Nigerians.”
The Minister said the council directed the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, to fine tune the bill for onward transmission to the National Assembly for passage.
“The Attorney General was required to process and present to the National Assembly for review and ultimate passage and we expect that the law, when eventually passed and approved by the President will help in improving the capability and capacity of the Federal fire Service,” he added.
The council also approved N66.9 billion for the rehabilitation of Kashimbila-Takum-Chahchangi road in Taraba State, North-East Nigeria.
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola said: “The Ministry of Works and Housing presented one memorandum and it was for the rehabilitation of the 91.94 kilometre Kashimbila-Takum-Chahchangi road in Taraba State and council approved the proposal by the ministry in the sum of N66.983 billion.”
Fashola said the project will help boost the transportation network in Taraba State and the entire North-East.
The Council also approved N23.9 billion for the procurement of equipment for airports across the country.
Also briefing on behalf of the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said the equipment to be procured include radio communication system for some control towers and instrument landing systems for some airports.
He disclosed that “The Minister of Aviation presented two memos, one was for the award of contract for the upgrade of twelve airports tower voice communication and control system radio for twelve airports located in Akure, Benin, Calabar, Ibadan, Ilorin, Jos, Minna, Owerri, Sokoto, Yola, Kaduna and Enugu.
“The contract was for the sum of N9.988 billion with a completion period of 13 months. As you are aware, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency NAMA has a statutory mandate to enhance safety and security of the Nigerian airspace and it is in line with this that it sought to upgrade 12 air control towers voice and communication control system.”
Mohammed said the communication tower had to be upgraded because the ones currently in use have aged and also to enhance better performance in the twelve airports in conferment with technological advancements and aviation industry’s best practices..
He added that N14 billion for the procurement of instrument landing systems for Lagos Abuja, Katsina and Portharcourt airports.
“The Ministry of Aviation also sought and obtained approval for the award of contract fir the procurement and installation of air field lighting category three instrument landing systems in Lagos, Abuja, Katsina and Portharcourt airports.
“This has to do with safety. The memo was approved and contract was awarded in the sum of 14,036,000,000. This is in a bid to carryout statutory mandate of developing and managing all relevant aviation services for safe secure and efficient carriage of passengers and goods.”
He also said the move was necessitated by the recent increase in the fleet of passengers across the four airports.
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