Economy

We’ll Seize Nigeria’s Assets Despite Fresh Appeal – P&ID

Published

4 years ago

October 4, 2019

Eric

The Process and Industrial Development Limited has said Nigeria’s fresh appeal moves will not stop it from commencing the seizure of the country’s assets.

It said the Federal Government must meet the deadlines for the payment of $200m security deposit and £250,000 cost awarded by a London court on September 26.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had said on Wednesday that the Federal Government had directed its lawyers to seek the leave of the court to appeal against last week’s ruling of Justice Christopher Butcher of the Commercial Court in London imposing the payments as conditions for granting a stay of execution of a $9.6bn award in favour of P&ID.

The court’s ruling ordered Nigeria to pay $200m security fund into the court’s account within 60 days as the condition for granting the nation’s request to stay execution in the $9.6bn award in favour of the P&ID, and £250,000 cost to the P&ID.

But responding to The PUNCH’s request for its reaction to the fresh development, P&ID, through a London-based public relations firm, iNHouse Communications, which it engaged in the aftermath of the controversial $9.6bn judgment, said it was confident Nigeria’s fresh appeal would not succeed.

A statement attributed to a P&ID’s spokesperson in the iNHouse’s reply, read, “The English Court ordered Nigeria to pay US $200 million as security, plus GBP 250,000 to P&ID for its legal costs, as a condition for any stay of execution while Nigeria appeals the August judgment.

“The English Court rejected Nigeria’s application for permission to appeal the payment requirement. We are confident that Nigeria will fare no better with the Court of Appeal. If Nigeria refuses to pay, P&ID will be allowed to start seizing its assets.”

Nigeria’s Information minister had said on Wednesday that the Federal Government retained international legal firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, for the case.

Mohammed argued that contrary to claims by the P&ID and “its cohorts”, the government delegation’s trip to London (for the September 26 proceedings) was a successful one.

Apart from the $200m, the minister had said the government would be able to seek refund of the £250,000 it was asked to pay to P&ID if the appeal succeeded.

Describing the delegation’s mission as a huge success, the minister had said the firm had every reason to be worried that the $9.6bn arbitration awarded to it had a good chance of being overturned.

He said, “The Federal Government has a good chance of being successful in its impending appeal, otherwise the Commercial Court would not have allowed the appeal.

“Please note that Nigeria will be able to demand a refund of the 250,000 GBP payment to P&ID where the government wins on the appeal. This fact is being hidden by those who have been spinning the London judgment in their own favour.

“On the $200m payment as a condition for the granting of the stay of execution, Nigeria has instructed its lawyers to seek the leave of the Court of Appeal to appeal against that payment.

Justice Butcher of the London Commercial Court had ruled on August 16, 2019 that P&ID had the right to seize $9.6bn in Nigeria’s assets.

The court’s ruling bordered on a 2010 contract Nigeria signed with P&ID for the company to build a state-of-the-art gas processing plant to refine natural gas (“wet gas”) into “lean gas” that Nigeria would receive free of charge to power its national electric grid.

The agreement suffered a setback and the P&ID won a $6.6bn arbitration award which in addition to interests rose to $9.6bn.

The London court in August this year affirmed Nigeria’s liability to pay the sum of $9.6bn to P&ID.

Nigeria returned to the court on September 26 to stop P&ID from enforcing the judgment.

The Federal Government got a leave to appeal and a conditional stay of execution while pursuing its appeal against the judgment.

The Punch

Economy

CBN Denies Devaluating Naira, Says Trending Story Fake

Published

3 days ago

June 1, 2023

Eric

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has debunked a report by a national daily that it has devalued the naira to N631 per dollar at the Importers and Exporters’ (I&E) window.

A top official of the apex bank, who told this medium that the report is completely false , warned that such reports could have serious adverse consequences for the economy.

According to the top official, the CBN has not changed its strategy of allowing a gradual convergence of the parallel and official market exchange rates.

“The report is not true. The CBN has not devalued the naira. The exchange rate of the naira on the FMDQ website as at yesterday was N464.67 per dollar. The authors of the report may have their own agenda, but the CBN’s plan is that the best approach is to allow for a gradual convergence of all the rates.”

Business

Rotary Should Continue to Inspire Women for Economic Growth- Alaba Lawson

Published

2 weeks ago

May 22, 2023

Editor

Mrs Geetika Tandon, Rtn Gabriel Otsu, Chairman, organising Committee, Iyalode Alaba Lawson, Keynote Speaker, District Governor, Rotary District 9110, Rtn Omotunde Lawson & Rtn Francis Lawson

A call has gone to Rotary International District 9110 and indeed organisations around the country to consistently inspire and promote women for economic and national growth

The appeal was made by former President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Chief Alaba Lawson while presenting the keynote address at the first Rotary District 9110 Women in Rotary Conference held at the Nigeria Law School Auditorium, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Rtn Francis Lawson, District Governor, Rtn Omotunde Lawson, Mrs Angela Emewa, Chairman, Punch and award recipient & Rtn Gabriel Otsu, Chairman, Organising Committee

Speaking on the topic “ The Transformational Woman: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion For Socio-Economic Change”, Chief Lawson stated that Rotary as an organization has made giant strides in the area of women empowerment and advised that the body should do more as it will ultimately lead to the nation’s growth.

Rtn Gabriel Otsu, Rtn Francis Lawson, District Governor, Rtn Omotunde Lawson, Chief (Mrs) Alaba Lawson & guest speaker

She noted that women are the key to Nigeria’s economic and political advancement, and the more women involved at the top echelon and decision-making process, the better.

According to her“When more women work, economies grow. Women’s economic empowerment boosts productivity, increases economic diversification and income equality in addition to other positive development outcomes”.

Describing women as the future, she stated that studies have shown that companies with more women on their boards outperform those without them by a significant margin, and organisations with greater gender diversity globally grew to 32% in 2022.

According to her, women often excel at soft skills required for business leadership and they represent a significant economic force and provide valuable consumer insight that any nation needs to thrive.

She further highlighted the fact that Nigeria needs traits such as ability to connect, collaborate, empathize, communicate and be prudent which are inherent in women to make progress in key sectors including economy, politics and more.

She, however, lamented that despite the fact that women are in the majority in terms of population, the opportunities for them to show their skills and contribute meaningfully have been hampered by systemic bottlenecks.

She therefore advised that to fuel its fire of progress and revolutionize its economic, political and social structure, women must be given adequate representation in government and key sectors of the economy.

Also speaking, Tax expert and management consultant, Mr Gbenga Badejo who spoke on “10 Top Financial Challenges for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises” noted that if women can overcome these challenges, they would be able build formidable businesses and play in the big league.

He gave the challenges as: limited or inconsistent cashflow, not using budgetary control mechanism, no preparation for unforeseen expenses, not raising enough capital, too much debt, neglecting necessary financial reporting and book keeping, , poor regulatory compliance, mixing business and personal finances, poor marketing tactics and poor managing of receivables and payables.

Earlier in her welcome address, Rotarian Omotunde Lawson, District Governor, Rotary International District 9110 noted that the conference, the first in the 41 -year history of the District, which covers Rotary Clubs in Lagos and Ogun States, was aimed at equipping women with the right support for personal and financial growth.

The conference was rounded off with a dinner and awards ceremony at the same venue where eminent women were honoured for their contributions to national development.

Economy

Nigeria Fast Exceeding Borrowing Limit, Budget Office Warns

Published

3 weeks ago

May 11, 2023

Eric

The Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze, has expressed concern that Nigeria is fast exceeding its limited borrowing space.

Akabueze stated this at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, during the induction of newly-elected lawmakers of the 10th National Assembly, on Wednesday.

He said: “While the size of the FG budget for 2023 created some excitement, the aggregate budgets of all governments in the country amount to about 30 trillion Naira. That is less than 15 percent in terms of ratio to GDP.

“Even on the African continent, the ratio of spending is about 20 percent. South Africa is about 30 percent, Morocco is about 40 percent and at 15 percent, that is too small for our needs.

“That is why there is a fierce competition for the limited resources. That can determine how much we can relatively borrow. We now have very limited borrowing space, not because our debt to GDP is high, but because our revenue is too small to sustain the size of our debt. That explains our high debt service ratio.

“Once a country’s debt service ratio exceeds 30 percent, that country is in trouble and we are pushing towards 100 percent and that tells you how much trouble we are in. We have limited space to borrow.

“When you take how much you can generate in terms of revenue and what you can reasonably borrow, that establishes the size of the budget. The next thing would be to pay attention to government priority regarding what project gets what.

“The budget is not a shopping list. In the end, the budget only contained expenditure,” he said.