Intels Nigeria Limited (INL), a
company co-owned by former vice president, Atiku Abubakr, has vowed to sue the
Buhari government over termination of its Pilotage Agency Agreement by the
Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
Intels stated that that the
termination of the agreement which was conveyed to the firm in a letter signed
by the NPA boss on Tuesday, was “clearly preposterous and the consequences
highly injurious” to the interests of Nigeria.
Intels said the action by NPA
would force it to reconsider its multibillion dollar investment at the Badagry
deep seaport in Lagos, adding that the investment would have created thousands
of direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians.
It noted it had invested too much
in the country and if the Nigerian government was not prepared to respect the
sanctity of its contract, it was ready to head to the courts to challenge NPA’s
action.
Intels gave NPA seven days from
Wednesday to reconsider the residual critical areas of their relationship and
to agree, to the possible extent, on a common solution, failing which it shall
head to arbitration.
It further divulged that the NPA
was indebted to it to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Intel in a letter signed by a
Director of Intels, Mr. Silvano Bellinato, to Bala-Usman, the company said:
“With reference to your letter received on October 10th 2017, allegedly
terminating the Agency Agreement between Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and
INTELS Nigeria Ltd (INL), we formally contest the contents of the same for the
reasons stated below:
“On March 15th 2017, we received
your letter ref: HQ/F&A/ED/AD/INTELS/034 in which, in addition to other
contents, the following points were stated:
“Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)
acknowledged a debt towards Intels Nigeria Limited (INL) in the sum of
674,767,415.00 US$ (in addition to the interests accrued in the meantime);
“NPA communicated the need to
reconcile the sum of 109,000,000.00 US$ for the additional works carried out;
“NPA informed INL about the
implementation to be discussed in respect of a ‘transit account’ called NPA
service boat revenue collection account domiciled at one of the banks indicated
by you and the related standard operating procedures (SOP);
“NPA confirmed 28% agency
commission to INL and the 72% balance to be shared between NPA and INL in the
ratio 30:70.
“On March 27th 2017, we replied
to every point in your letter of 15th March as stated below:
“INL took note of NPA’s acknowledgement of debt;
“INL declared availability to
meet NPA in order to discuss the details for the certification of the
109,000,000.00 US$ for the additional works carried out;
“INL requested for postponement
of the SOP application.
“On April 19th 2017, NPA
acknowledged our acceptance of NPA’s proposal in respect of 28% agency
commission (already included in the existing running Agency Agreement) and in
particular to the 30% – 70% split, respectively to NPA and INL, related to the
72% balance. This would imply that the 30% is to be remitted on a monthly basis
to NPA while the 70% is to be applied towards reducing the indebtedness to INL.
“Regarding the TSA application,
NPA reiterated the strategic importance of such a request. However it is noted
that TSA was not part of the existing agency agreement between the parties.”
The company said that on May 5th
2017, it replied NPA’s letter of April 19th 2017 proposing the opening of a jointly
signed account between INL and NPA in which the boat service revenues would
have been directed.
“Afterwards the account holders,
with relative proxies, would remit the respective portions due to the parties,
being 30% in favor of NPA and 70% in favor of INL.
“In the same letter we indicated
our availability to identify the bank, from among the ones indicated by NPA;
regarding the reasons of our proposal we firmly reiterated the precariousness
of our financial status, mainly attributable to the credits towards NPA and
heavily financed by various credit institutions.
“Such circumstances rendered
alternative solutions to the ones suggested by us unviable, and also taking
into consideration the inapplicability of TSA to running contracts in the
manner proposed by NPA.
“Clearly, deduction of
entitlements due to INL from collections under the Agreement, and payment of
the balance into the designated NPA account for TSA purposes, would be in
compliance with the TSA policy.”
Intels maintained that the
decision by NPA to terminate the Agency Agreement, which was totally unexpected
in consideration of the meetings held by the parties and exchange of letters,
was clearly preposterous and the consequences highly injurious to the interests
of the company.
“Hence, in compliance with the
Article 12 of the Agency Agreement between the NPA and INL, we hereby request
you to schedule a meeting within seven days from the date of this letter, in
order to analyse the residual critical areas of our relationship and to agree, to
the possible extent, on a common solution.
“Should this not happen, we
hereby notify you that, in accordance with Article 13 of the Agreement, we will
refer the matters to arbitration, in order to safeguard our company from the
significant damages and other adverse consequences that may result from this
rather unbecoming decision.
“We wish to reach an amicable
solution as soon as possible for this complicated matter so that we can avoid
to request for the intervention of the court for the immediate payment of any
amount due to us from NPA, also in light of the likely pressure for action from
our banks, which we may be compelled to do, despite our unwillingness,” the
company stated in the letter.
Intels also warned that the
“unjustified decision” by NPA would hurt Nigeria’s international credit rating
and scare away the much needed foreign direct investment.
“Among them we cannot avoid to
mention Intels itself, which has planned to make the investment for the largest
African port in Badagry, for an amount of several billions dollars,” the
company stated.
According to Intels, “For
information purposes only, we recall that on November 8th, 2013 (Art. 2.2) an
agreement with the NPA has been signed binding it, without any doubt, to
reimburse the investments made on its behalf at FOT Onne – Phase 4B (and also
under separate agreement for Eko Support projects) with the 100% of the incomes
generated through the pilotage activities, which means that repayment will be
made out of the 72% to be reserved to yourselves under the SOP proposed by NPA.
“Given that, it is clear that the
said agreement sets the substantial transfer of the receivable in favour of our
company, which cannot be disregarded and that only a subsequent agreement as
the one the parties are negotiating (70%-30%) may modify, in your exclusive
interest.
“Our relationship has always been
characterised by timely execution of projects undertaken on behalf of NPA as
well as operational efficiency, which has variously been acknowledged by NPA.
“It is also easy for you to
ascertain the regularity and timeliness of the payments made by us on a monthly
basis for the lease of facilities and throughput fees, equal to an amount of
over 170 million US$ since the award of the concession.
“On July 26th, 2017 a joint technical
meeting was held with the aim of reconciling the credit/debit balances between
our entities, confirming the amounts due to our company. On that occasion, the
request to postpone the issuance of a credit note in our favour related to the
interests matured on the said amount was raised, for budget and financial
statement needs.
“We mention this point only to
confirm, should it be required, the effective and constructive cooperation
existing between our respective entities, which contrasts sharply with your
decision as communicated in your letter of today (Tuesday) and makes it even
more unexplainable.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com