Yusuf Tuggar, the minister of foreign affairs, says the federal government is working to resolve its dispute with Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment, a Chinese firm.

A French court recently ordered the seizure of three presidential jets belonging to Nigeria over a contract dispute between the Chinese firm and Ogun state government.

The court ruled that the firm should use Nigeria’s jets at the Paris-Le Bourget and Basel-Mulhouse international airports as “security for its claim of EUR 74,459,221”.

A US appeal court also ruled that Nigeria’s claim to sovereign immunity cannot stand in a commercial venture.

The court rejected Nigeria’s sovereign immunity defence to the enforcement of a $70 million investment treaty award won by Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd. in a free trade zone.

The Chinese company said it would release one of Nigeria’s seized presidential jets.

Speaking with reporters in Malabo, the capital city of Equatorial Guinea, on Friday, Tuggar said he and Lateef Fagbemi, the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, are on top of the situation.

“This is part of the problem when sub-national actors like state governments take it upon themselves to go into agreements, go into international arrangements, without recourse to the ministry of foreign affairs, without recourse to the federal government, and then when it goes awry, we are left with the problem to deal with,” he said.

“That is why it is always important that such arrangements should be registered with the mission there, with the embassy, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and with the federal government.

“This is something that Ogun state, under a different administration, not this governor, entered into that we’re not aware of. All we know is that they’re going after Nigerian assets.

“That’s why, really, foreign or international negotiations are not the purview of sub-national actors.

“You should always have those that are experienced in such an area that have the necessary skills and the necessary training to negotiate these sorts of agreements.”

The minister said updates would be provided on the matter.

The Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) Chairman of Qua’an Pan Local Government Area, in Jos, Plateau capital, Hon Christopher Audu, is reportedly battling for his life after being attacked by delegates during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election.

Naija News learnt that the election, which was held on Thursday, became violent after the TIC Chairman was declared the winner.

An observer, Michael Bulus, who spoke with Daily Trust, said that the election exercise was initially peaceful, but some delegates and PDP faithful who were denied access to the hall forced their way in and went straight to the TIC Chairman.

Audu was said to have sustained severe injuries as a result of the attack and was rushed out of Ba’ap, the headquarters of Qua’an Pan LGA, to an undisclosed location for medical attention.

Bulus said, “The mob beat up Hon Audu without mercy while complaining that he manipulated the process to emerge winner of the primaries.

“It was further alleged that Hon Audu handpicked his loyalists to be delegates at the election while blocking the real delegates from accessing the venue to exercise their franchise.”

The angry delegates also allegedly beat up officials of the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) who were present to oversee the election.

Meanwhile, at the time of filing this report, the party has yet to issue an official statement on the embarrassing incident

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says Nigeria’s employment level declined in July.

In its purchasing manager’s index (PMI) report on Wednesday, CBN said the industry sector employment level index stood at 47.0 points.

CBN said this indicates a contraction in the level of employment.

The apex bank said eight employment sub-sectors recorded contraction, while seven sub-sectors reported growth in the reviewed month.

“Eight subsectors reported a contraction in the level of employment with the Printing & Related Support Activities reporting the highest contraction,” the apex bank said.

According to CBN, primary metal and transportation equipment sub-sectors reported stationary levels in July.

PRODUCTION INDEX INCREASES FOR THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE MONTH

CBN said the industry production index recorded expansion at 50.5 points in July 2024 — indicating growth in production for the second consecutive month.

“Eight subsectors reported growth in production during the review month with Water Supply, Sewerage & Waste Management recording the highest growth, Printing & Related Support Activities Subsector was stationary, while the remaining eight subsectors registered declines in production with Transportation Equipment reporting the highest contraction,” the apex bank said.

On August 13, the CBN said it reintroduced the publication of several key economic reports.

CBN said the reports, including the PMI, business expectation survey (BES), inflation expectation report and other macroeconomic indicators, will provide stakeholders with timely and accurate insights into the country’s economic performance.

The last PMI report and business expectation survey released by CBN was on December 23, 2020.

The National Judicial Council (NJC) has set up four panels to investigate the petitions against 27 judges of federal and state courts.

The decision to probe the judges was reached during the NJC’s 106th meeting on Thursday and Friday, presided over by Olukayode Ariwoola, the outgoing chief justice of Nigeria (CJN).

The NJC resolved to issue a letter of advice to Olusegun Olagunju, a judge of the Oyo high court, for using “uncouth language” in correspondence to Ariwoola, challenging the council on the appointment of the president of the customary court of appeal in the state.

The council also resolved to issue letters of commendation, appreciation, and non-performance to 215 judges of the federation.

“The National Judicial Council, presided over by the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, GCON, at its 106th meeting of 14 and 15 August 2024, resolved to issue a letter of advise to Hon. Justice O. M. Olagunju of the Oyo state high court to be circumspect as a judicial officer before acting, even in the most challenging situation,” Soji Oye, NJC director of information, said in a statement.

“The resolution was made after council considered the report of the committee it set up and mandated it to invite the Hon. Judge to appear before it to defend his uncouth language in a letter addressed to the chief justice of Nigeria, challenging council’s decision viz-a-viz its policy direction on appointment of president, Customary Court of Appeal, Oyo state.

“Council at the meeting considered the report of its preliminary complaints assessment committee on 22 petitions written against 27 judicial officers of the federal and state high courts and decided to empanel four committees to investigate allegations in the petitions that were found meritorious.

“The remaining 18 petitions were discountenanced for lacking of merit, abandoned, or being subjudice.

“The discountenanced petitions are against Hon. Justice Monica B. Dongban-Mensem, CFR, President Court of Appeal, Hon. Justices E. O. Williams Dawodu, B. A. Georgewill, Yargata Timpar, S. D. Samchi, Aisha B. Aliyu, A. A. Aderibigbe M. L. Shuaibu, H. A. O. Abiru, and Abdulazeez Waziri, all of the court of appeal.

“Others are Hon. Justice J. T. Tsoho, OFR, Chief Judge Federal High Court, Hon. Justices Z. B. Abubakar, J. K. Omotosho, and Sunday B. Onu all of the Federal High Court, and Justice Okon E. Abang when he was serving at the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice Kayode Agunloye of the FCT High Court, Hon. Justice Babagana Karumi of the High Court Borno State, Hon. Justice Maimuna A. Abubakar of the High Court of Niger State, Hon. Justice A. A. Aderibigbe of Osun State High Court, and Hon. Justice Aisha B. Aliyu of Nasarawa State High Court.

“Petitions written against Justices Ayodele Oyeyemi Oyebisi, Amaobi L. Agara, Amina Garba, Bello M. Tukur, Omeka Elekwa, and O. A. Adetujoye who served at Asaba and Plateau National and State Assembly Election Tribunal Panels.

“Council also considered the report of its performance evaluation of judicial officers of superior courts of record and resolved to issue letters ranging from commendation, appreciation, no submission, and non-performance to 215 judges all over the Federation.

“It also placed five judges on its pre-sanction watch list register for poor performance. They would be recommended to the Council for appropriate sanction if they do not improve on their performance.”

The federation account allocation committee (FAAC) says the three tiers of government shared N1.358 trillion in July.

This represents N4 billion increase compared to the N1.354 trillion shared in June.

On Friday, FAAC held its August meeting chaired by Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy.

According to a statement by Mohammed Manga, director, information and public relations, ministry of finance, FAAC shared the amount from a total revenue of N2.61 trillion available in July.

The revenue breakdown showed that statutory revenue was N161.5 billion, value-added tax (VAT) was N528 billion; electronic money transfer levy (EMTL) was N18.8 billion, exchange difference stood at N581 billion, and solid mineral provided N13.6 billion revenue, bringing the total distributable amount for the month to N1.358 trillion.

Out of the distributable revenue, FAAC said the federal government received N431 billion, the states received N473 billion, and the local government councils got N343 billion.

Also, oil-producing states received N109 billion as derivation fund (13 percent of mineral revenue).

The committee said the sum of N99.7 billion was given for the cost of collection, while N109.816 billion was allocated for transfer intervention and refunds.

Gross revenue available from the VAT for July was N625 billion — up by N62 billion compared to the N562 billion distributed in the preceding month, according to the statement.

Also, out of the distributable VAT revenue of N582 billion, the federal government got N87.3 billion, states received N291 billion and local governments got N203 billion.

“Accordingly, the Gross Statutory Revenue of N1,373.503 Trillion received for the month was lower than the sum of N1,432.667 Billion received in the previous month by N45.517 Billion. From the stated amount, the sum of N73.959 Billion was allocated for the cost of collection and a total sum of N1,137.951Trillion for Transfers, Intervention and Refunds,” FAAC said.

In addition, the gross statutory revenue balance was N161 billion, and out of this, the federal government got the sum of N58.5 billion, states received N29.6 billion, and N22.894 billion was allocated to local governments, while N50.4 billion was given as 13 percent derivation revenue to oil-producing states.

However, from the N19.6 billion ETML revenue shared, the committee said the federal government received N2.8 billion, states received N9.4 billion, and local governments received N6.5 billion, while N0.784 billion was allocated for the cost of collection.

FAAC added that oil and gas royalty, petroleum profit tax (PPT), VAT, import duty, EMTL, and external tariff levies (CET) increased significantly.

On the other hand, the company income tax (CIT) recorded a decrease, while excise duties increased only marginally.

The balance in the excess crude account (ECA) as of August 2024 stands at $473,754.57.

Nigeria was awash with news recently about the quantum leap in the quantity of fuel imports from Malta after revelations by Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

In 2023, Nigeria’s petroleum importation from Malta surged significantly to $2.8 billion, compared to zero between 2017 and 2022, and a mere $13.32 million in 2016.

Mele Kyari, the group chief executive officer (GCEO) of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL), immediately denied Dangote’s claim, saying he did not have interest in any plant in Malta.

TheCable can now reveal the identity of one of the biggest importers via the tiny European country.

He is Abdulkabir Adisa Aliu, owner of Matrix Energy and member of the presidential economic coordination council (PECC).

In an interview with TheCable, however, Aliu strenuously denied any wrongdoing in his business practices and promised a full response to the newspaper’s questions.

‘SMALL PLAYER, BIG CONTRACTS’

In July 2024 alone, over 200,000 tonnes of petrol from Malta were discharged into the Matrix jetty in Warri, Delta state, according to an insider who shared confidential documents with TheCable.

“This represents about 25 percent of Nigeria’s monthly PMS consumption going to a relatively small player with only 150 retail stations,” the insider said.

The insider said Aliu is also leveraging his close relations with the top management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) to secure crude oil cargoes from the national oil company for his company.

“Crude cargoes are discretionarily allocated to Matrix Energy by the NNPC monthly,” the person familiar with the company’s operations said.

The crude allocations to Matrix are traded by Gulf Transport & Trading (GTT), a trading company registered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the insider.

“Two of the three crude cargoes of the recently launched Utapate grade were allocated to GTT,” the source said.

“The crude cargoes are typically sold at a $3 per barrel premium which translates to $3 million per cargo with no sweat. This implies a tax-free take of almost $150 million per year or N240 billion, at N1,600/$.”

On August 5, NNPC introduced the Utapate crude oil blend into the international market.

The new crude oil grade is from an oil mining lease (OML) 13, fully operated by NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL), an upstream subsidiary of NNPC.

‘FROM RUSSIA TO NIGERIA VIA MALTA AND LOME’

Matrix — which has three old ships (Matrix Pride, Matrix Triumph, and Matrix S.ILU) —  reportedly loads diesel products exported from Russia in Lome, Togo.

It is understood that the diesel from Russia is typically off-spec and is often corrected in places like Lome and Malta through blending with other components.

However, on June 16, about 15,000 tonnes of diesel — loaded on May 26 from Novorossiysk, Russia, and transported by a vessel, MT Kallos — were reportedly transloaded into Matrix Triumph offshore Lome without corrections and discharged into Matrix jetty in Warri, Delta state, Nigeria, on June 21.

On June 19, another 15,000 tonnes were transloaded into Matrix Pride and then discharged into the Obat Oil terminal on June 22.

In documents seen by TheCable, the products from Malta were transported through intermediate ships and sometimes through intermediate companies like Poly Pro Trading registered in Dubai Free Trade Zone.

Their listed office at OneJLT Towers 05.015, Dubai, is a business centre without any physical presence, according to checks by TheCable.

“Malta is now the top European destination for blending and ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products ever since the Greek navy decided to stop such activities in their offshore zone,” the source said.

“About 35 percent of shipment into Malta is naphtha and other components which are blended into gasoline to produce lower quality ‘African Spec’. This lower quality spec is then transhipped into various vessels for delivery into Nigeria to be sold to unsuspecting public who suffer frequent vehicle and equipment breakdowns.”

An oil blending plant has no refining capability but can be used to blend re-refined oil (a used motor oil that has been treated to remove dirt, fuel, and water) with additives to create finished lubricant products.

Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd, a Chinese firm, says it is ready for a resolution of its dispute with Nigeria. 

A Paris court recently ordered the seizure of Nigeria’s assets — including three aircraft — over the contract dispute.

The court ruled that the Chinese firm should use Nigeria’s jets at the Paris-Le Bourget and Basel-Mulhouse international airports “as security for its claim of EUR 74,459,221”.

BACKGROUND

In 2010, Zhongshan, through Zhuhai Zhongfu Industrial Group Co. Ltd. (Zhuhai), its Chinese parent company, acquired rights to develop a free trade zone in Ogun state.

A year later, Zhongshan set up Zhongfu International Investment (NIG) FZE (Zhongfu), a Nigerian entity, to manage the project with the permission of the Ogun state government.

However, things took a different turn in July 2016 when the investor accused the state government of abruptly moving to terminate its appointment while attempting to install a new manager for the free trade zone.

Subsequently, Zhongfu initiated an investment treaty arbitration against Nigeria under the bilateral investment treaty between the People’s Republic of China and Nigeria (the China-Nigeria BIT).

The arbitrators had ruled that Nigeria was in breach of its obligations under the China-Nigeria BIT and awarded Zhongshan a compensation of around $70 million.

In January 2022, the Chinese company initiated a case to seek enforcement of the arbitration award.

Nigeria pleaded state immunity but was turned away by Sara Cockerill, a high court judge in the UK, who said the country abused the time frame for appealing arbitral awards.

On August 9, a US appellant court affirmed the judgment of the US district court for the District of Columbia, that held that the arbitration award is enforceable.

The court rejected Nigeria’s sovereign immunity defence.

‘READY TO SETTLE THIS CASE’

On Thursday, the presidency accused the Chinese firm of deploying “unorthodox and subterfuge” means in a bid to seize the assets.

Refuting the allegations in a statement sent to Premium Times, Zhongshan said it has only ever sought to assert its rights under international law and is confident in its case.

“The independent arbitral panel was found unanimously in its favour, and courts in multiple countries have upheld the view that the panel’s compensation should be enforced. The French court was fully aware of the facts when it reached its decision,” the firm said.

“Far from being just a fence, the Ogun Free Trade Zone was featured as a significant international investment by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“Zhongshan has for a long time been ready to enter serious negotiations with the federal government of Nigeria to settle this case and still awaits an indication that the government is equally willing.”

A lawyer and human rights activist, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, on Friday, described Nigeria’s sovereignty as under threat following a report of the seizure of Nigeria’s three presidential jets in France.

Ejiofor spoke while commenting on the issues surrounding the report of the seizure of Nigeria’s presidential jet in Paris.

It was his view that; “We are no longer under any form of illusion that Nigeria’s sovereignty is under serious threat amid mountain debt concerns. unfortunately, Nigerians are not paying commensurate attention to this impending disaster.

“On August 15, 2024, three presidential aircraft undergoing maintenance in Paris were temporarily seized in strict compliance with a court order.
What an international disgrace!”

“The unfortunate reality is that with the Nigerian government’s growing habit of excessive and reckless borrowing, it is increasingly likely that we may one day wake up to find Nigeria’s assets and the entire Nigerians tied to foreign judgments. It is only a matter of time,”he said.

Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has reacted to the claim of his Igbo paternity, declaring that such insinuation made him laugh.

The disclosure came even as the former President said he doesn’t believe anybody in Nigeria should be driven away from any part of the country, declaring that, “we own this country together.”

Obasanjo made this known when he received in audience the leadership of Ndigbo Amaka Progressive Market Association, an umbrella body of major markets in Lagos State held at the boardroom of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) Abeokuta, Ogun State.

In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo who did not speak much further on the paternity claim issue, simply says, “it just makes me laugh.”

Speaking on the meeting, the former President said the leadership of the group reached out to him to support the establishment of the Owerri Central Market positioned to be the best of its kind in the country.

He acknowledged that the Central Market Owerri had been contemplated since the creation of Imo state, adding that for one reason or the other, it has not been implemented, “but, I am glad it is coming up again and I hope this time, we are all going to make it real. It is going to be big, the first of its kind.

“And, I am happy also that the governor is showing the desired interest and understanding. And, I am confident that the Owerri Central Market will be, as he expressed the desire to lead the marketing team for the market.

Obasanjo said he doesn’t believe anybody in Nigeria should be driven away from any part of the country asserting that, “we own this country together “

“Having ensured that the Yorubas, Igbos and Hausas all came together to fight the war of unity in Nigeria, and “not to fight Igbos to go, but to come. So if anybody says to me, that somebody should leave any place, he will be the one to leave.”

In his remarks, the group’s spokesperson Chief Emeka Dallas Emmanuel who read a letter jointly signed by Comrade Chinedu Ukatu and Evangelist Iwuchukwu Ezenwafor said the market will be a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship assuring the group’s determination to play its role to the growth of the market and the nation.

He further sought the help of the former President towards the actualization of the international market capable of taking a vast majority off the streets.

Emmanuel added that the assistance of the former president will go a long way in helping their members to obtain loans to purchase shops and spaces at the market.