National

Chinese Businessman Wins Right to Confiscate Two Nigerian Govt Property in UK

Published

10 months ago

June 25, 2024

Eric

Two Nigerian properties located in the United Kingdom are on the verge of being taken over by a Chinese investor following an order granting the investor the right to enforce a $70 million investment treaty award against Nigeria.

The investor – Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment – was granted final charging orders over two UK residential properties owned by the Nigerian government after the company also attached a £20 million debt relating to the high-profile P&ID case.

Reports said the Chinese firm secured the order on June 14 when Master Sullivan in the Commercial Court in London granted the orders in respect of two Liverpool properties estimated to be worth a combined £1.7 million.

According to the judge, the order was premised on the fact that the properties have been converted to commercial use outside Nigeria’s diplomatic or consular activities in the UK, stressing that enforcement of the order should prevail.

The case was a gritty legal battle between Zhongshan, represented before the court by Withers and barristers at 3VB, while Nigeria was represented by Squire Patton Boggs and a barrister at Atkin Chambers.

Reports said the underlying arbitration was in relation to a joint venture with Nigeria’s Ogun State to establish a free trade zone near Lagos in 2013. A Zhongshan subsidiary held a 60% stake in the project but Ogun terminated its participation three years later.

In 2021, a London-seated UNCITRAL tribunal chaired by Lord Neuberger including Matthew Gearing KC and Rotimi Oguneso (SAN) said Nigeria was guilty of expropriation and other breaches of the China-Nigeria bilateral investment treaty and ordered the country to to pay US$55.6 million plus interest and costs.

Nigeria in the same year put a challenge against the award in the Commercial Court on jurisdictional grounds. Nigeria’s position was that the arbitration clause in the BIT was invalid. But in later development, Nigeria withdrew the challenge before a hearing on Zhongshan’s application for security and security for costs was about to take place.

Mrs. Justice Cockerill in the same court granted Zhongshan an ex parte enforcement order in December 2021, but Nigeria did not file against this order within the 74-day deadline allowed by the law.
In July 2023, the Court of Appeal in London stopped Nigeria from bringing a late challenge to the enforcement order, stressing Cockerill’s provisional determination that state immunity did not apply had become final.

The investor reportedly got interim charging orders in June and August last year over the two properties in Liverpool, which are owned by the Nigerian government.
Nigeria’s efforts to dismiss these charging orders failed as Master Sullivan in her judgment, held that the properties are leased to residential tenants and that no “consular activities are actually taking place on the premises”.

She also dismissed Nigeria’s arguments that it had not been properly served with the interim charging order applications under the State Immunity Act and that Zhongshan had failed to give full and frank disclosure when seeking them.

Master Sullivan also dismissed Nigeria’s objection about parties bringing multiple enforcement action, saying that parties are “entitled to bring as many types of enforcement action as they see fit to recover their debt.” She noted that Nigeria had yet to pay any of the award and that the value of the properties represented a “small proportion of it”.

Timi Balogun of Squire Patton Boggs, counsel to Nigeria, said: “We respectfully disagree with the Master’s decision, which we believe somewhat brushes over complex public international law issues, including with respect to state immunity and the right of a foreign state’s High Commission to own and manage portfolios of fixed assets in England and Wales. We believe that such issues need to be weighed very carefully, and we intend to appeal this decision so that these complex and important issues can be considered by the higher courts.”

Zhongshan applied to enforce the award in Washington, DC in 2022. Last year, the DC district court rejected Nigeria’s motion to dismiss the action on sovereign immunity grounds. The state argued the China-Nigeria BIT was “quintessentially sovereign” and therefore the award did not arise from a commercial relationship between the parties. The DC district proceeding is stayed pending Nigeria’s appeal of the sovereign immunity decision.

Zhongshan has also taken enforcement measures in various other jurisdictions, including in Quebec, where it seeks conservatory seizure of a private jet; and in Belgium, where Nigeria is challenging attachments of properties.

In the British Virgin Islands, Zhongshan has obtained an interim attachment over a £20 million liability owed Nigeria by BVI-registered company Process & Industrial Development (P&ID) under an English Commercial Court ruling. The Chinese company withdrew an earlier application to attach the same liability in England.

The Commercial Court ordered P&ID to pay Nigeria £20 million in costs in December last year after upholding the state’s challenge to an US$11 billion award in favour of the company. Mr Justice Robin Knowles found the award was procured through false evidence, corrupt payments and improper retention of leaked documents.

National

Ndume Accuses Tinubu of Skewed Appointments, Presidency Kicks

Published

1 week ago

April 9, 2025

Eric

The Presidency has dismissed allegations of lopsided appointments under President Bola Tinubu, describing the claim by Senator Ali Ndume as hypocritical and misleading.

In a reaction posted on Tuesday via his verified X handle, @aonanuga1956, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the Borno South senator is “allergic to facts and addicted to theatrics.”

Onanuga’s response comes after Ndume accused President Tinubu of favouring certain regions in his recent appointments, sparking debates across political circles.

“Senator Ali Ndume’s latest outburst on TV about so-called ‘lopsided appointments’ by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reeks of hypocrisy and selective perception.

“While the Borno senator grandstanded as a moral authority on equity, he forgot to tell his interviewer that two of his kinsmen featured in recent NNPC Limited top appointments”, Onanuga wrote.

He pointed out that the Chairman of NNPC Limited, who was appointed by President Tinubu, hails from Ndume’s own senatorial district in Borno State.

“If Tinubu and his surrogates’ choices are so ‘tribal,’ how did two of Ndume’s kinsmen clinch NNPC’s top roles?” he queried.

The presidential aide accused Ndume of repeatedly engaging in populist rhetoric without regard for verifiable facts.

“His habit of firing half-baked criticisms – only to be contradicted by facts – proves he’s more interested in headline-chasing, rabble rousing, and stoking divisive narratives than offering constructive criticism,” he added.

Onanuga reaffirmed the President’s commitment to inclusive governance, saying Tinubu’s appointments are based on merit, integrity, and national spread.

“President Tinubu is deeply committed to fostering a government that embraces all Nigerians, irrespective of their ethnic or regional affiliations,” he said.

He urged the senator to “elevate public discourse and avoid misinformation and baseless criticism,” warning that such behaviour was “a disservice to the nation and the behaviour least expected from a Nigerian Senator.”

National

Again, Tinubu Set to Jet Out to France on Two Weeks ‘Working Visit’

Published

2 weeks ago

April 2, 2025

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The Presidency has announce that President Bola Tinubu will be departing Abuja to (Wednesday) for Paris, France, on a ‘short working visit’.

A statement to the effect, signed and released by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, was however silent on the shape of international relationship the working visiting the president was embarking on will take, but noted that Tinubu will use the ‘retreat’ to review his administration’s mid-term performance and assess key milestones, as well as review progress of ongoing reforms.

While acknowledging that the president will spend ‘about a fortnight’ on the trip, the statement added he would supervise administration while away.

The statement in details

PRESIDENT TINUBU TO EMBARK ON WORKING VISIT TO PARIS

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will depart for Paris, France, today on a short working visit.

During the visit, the President will appraise his administration’s mid-term performance and assess key milestones.

He will also use the retreat to review the progress of ongoing reforms and engage in strategic planning ahead of his administration’s second anniversary.

This period of reflection will inform plans to deepen ongoing reforms and accelerate national development priorities in the coming year.

Recent economic strides reinforce the President’s commitment to these efforts, as evidenced by the Central Bank of Nigeria reporting a significant increase in net foreign exchange reserves to $23.11 billion—a testament to the administration’s fiscal reforms since 2023 when net reserves were $3.99 billion.

While away, President Tinubu will remain fully engaged with his team and continue to oversee governance activities.

He will return to Nigeria in about a fortnight.

National

NNPCL CEO, Mele Kyari Sacked, Bayo Ojulari Appointed

Published

2 weeks ago

April 2, 2025

Eric

President Bola Tinubu has sacked the Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, Mele Kyari.

Tinubu also dissolved its board, removing the Chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on information and strategy, announced this in a statement on Wednesday.

Onanuga said Tinubu invoked his powers under section 59(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 to carry out the sweeping reconstitution, citing the need for “enhanced operational efficiency, restored investor confidence, and a more commercially viable NNPC”.

He announced that Tinubu has now approved a new 11-man board, which has Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman.

According to the statement, “Adedapo Segun, who replaced Umaru Isa Ajiya as the chief financial officer last November, has been appointed to the new board by President Tinubu.

“Six board members, non-executive directors, represent the country’s geopolitical zones. They are Bello Rabiu, North West, Yusuf Usman, North East, and Babs Omotowa, a former managing director of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas( NLNG), who represents North Central.

“President Tinubu appointed Austin Avuru as a non-executive director from the South-South, David Ige as a Non-executive director from the South West, and Henry Obih as a non-executive director from the South East.

“Mrs Lydia Shehu Jafiya, permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will represent the ministry on the new board, while Aminu Said Ahmed will represent the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.”

He added said that all the appointments are effective today, April 2.