The house of representatives has
resolved to review all the treaties and agreements signed by the Nigerian
government to avoid a repeat of the $9.6 billion judgement awarded against the
country.
A British court had awarded the
damages against Nigeria over claims that the country did not fulfil its own
part of 20-year gas supply and processing agreement with Process and Industrial
Development Limited (P&ID).
However, the deal had been
criticised by various government agencies including the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) now investigating it.
Condemning the $9.6 billion
judgement award at plenary on Wednesday, the lower chamber agreed to invite
Abubakar Malami, minister of justice, and Timipre Sylva, minister for state for
petroleum resources, over the matter.
Moving a motion on the judgement,
Julius Ihonvbere from Edo state said its effect would be devastating on
Nigeria’s economy.
He condemned Nigeria’s “disregard
for contractual agreement” as well as government’s alleged failure to act on
the court processes before the final judgement.
He said: “Nigeria has a penchant
for disregarding the sanctity of contracts and terms of agreement, coupled with
the failure of Nigeria’s representatives in many cases, to carefully scrutinise
agreements they sign.
“The agreement was somewhat
shrouded in secrecy and dubiously procured as those who ought to know about its
existence did not.
“More importantly, the relevant
laws in Nigeria for the transaction to be consummated was not applied
especially, part IV of the Bureau of Public Procurement Act 2007 which deals
with the fundamental principles of procurement.”
He added that rather than properly
engage P&ID in the matter, “Nigeria was busy shopping for a favourite forum
to plead her case in a court in Lagos”.
He said the issue has exposed the
“deep decay in our governance and leadership infrastructure with far-reaching
implications for the credibility of the country’s capacity to handle business
and legal cases.”
On his part, Luke Onofiok from
Akwa Ibom state said: “This debt will put a hole in our budget, this issue will
put a hole at a time when we are spending trillions to service the deficits”.
The lawmakers subsequently
approved the notion and resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate
the matter and report back by September 30.
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