The People's Alternative Political Movement (PAPM) has asked the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to enforce the Supreme Court judgement directing the Nigerian government to recover all revenues lost to oil-exploring and exploiting companies due to wrong profit-sharing formula since August 2003.
Professor Omotoye Olorode and Jaye Gaskia on behalf of the group knocked the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Silva, for asking the oil companies not to pay.
Abubakar Malami
In a letter signed by their counsel, Femi Falana (SAN), the group asked Malami to use his office to ensure that the said sum of $62 billion is recovered from the companies and paid into the Federation Account without any further delay.
The letter read, “We are Solicitors to Professor Omotoye Olorode and Jaye Gaskia of the People's Alternative Political Movement (PAPM) on whose behalf we write this letter.
“Our clients have instructed us to remind you that the Federal Government has not enforced the above-mentioned Judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria delivered on October 20, 2018. In the said Judgment the apex court had directed the Federal Government to immediately take steps to recover all revenues lost to oil-exploring and exploiting companies due to the wrong profit-sharing formula since August 2003.
“Based on the aforesaid Judgment, you did request for the immediate payment of the sum of $62 billion owed by the six international oil companies with joint operating agreements with the NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) namely Shell Petroleum Development Company, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited and Chevron Nigeria Limited, Nigeria Agip Oil Company, TotalElf Nigeria and Pan Ocean Oil Company.
“But to the utter dismay of our clients, Mr. Timipre Silva, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources publicly stated that ‘Well, we have started discussions. Let us consider that as a lost opportunity, the money was not in a cupboard, they have taken it. Nobody can bring out that kind of money, I mean we can’t get $62 billion. We can maybe get something from them but not $62 billion. It’s an opportunity we have lost. We have already started discussions with them but what is clear is that it is a lost opportunity really.’
“In view of the foregoing, we have the instructions of our client to request you to use your good offices to ensure that the said sum of $62 billion is recovered from the International Oil Companies and paid into the Federation Account without any further delay.
“However, if you fail or refuse to accede to the request of our client we shall not hesitate to approach the Federal High Court to seek an order to compel you to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court in accordance with section 287(1) of the Constitution which provides that ‘The decisions of the Supreme court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the supreme Court.’
“As we await your reply to this letter please accept the assurances of our highest esteem and professional regards.”
LegalNewsAddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
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Nigerian students under the aegis of the Niger Delta Students Union Government have scheduled a protest against the Niger Delta Development Commission for Tuesday, October 12, 2021.
The protest is an agitation for the students' bursary payment and proper funding of the education sector in the Niger Delta region.
File photo
According to the students, NDDC has failed to honour several promises and agreements signed with the students' body.
“The Niger Delta Students have fixed their protest for Tuesday. Venue is the NDDC New Headquarters, Eastern Bypass Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Time is 12noon.”
In 2020, SaharaReporters reported that many scholars abroad were at risk of having their institutions terminate their academic programmes as the NDDC had refused to pay their tuition for about two years.
The students abroad had said the commission refused to pay their mobilisation fee and tuition fees.
“The NDDC selectively handpicked those it paid without any defined criteria and is refusing to pay fees, grants, and upkeep of 2018 scholars for no justifiable reason whatsoever,” the students had said.
“This came as a rude shock to us because historically, the NDDC had always paid the fees and upkeep of scholars in the order in which they were incurred, that is, from the earliest to the latest.”
In August, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari gave the NDDC one-week ultimatum to pay the scholars’ fees but the then interim management of the commission refused to issue the payment.
The NDDC is not new to scandals as the officials had been several times accused of multi-billion naira fraud.
In September 2021, it was exposed that at least N15.3billion was paid to contractors to execute some high priority projects for the NDDC but which could not be accounted for.
According to a report by the Civil Society Coalition on Audit in Nigeria (CSCAN), the controversial contracts were awarded from 2008 to 2018.
According to the coalition, the discovery was made after it conducted physical verification of 115 of 176 NDDC contracts highlighted in the Compliance Audit Reports on NCDC published by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
The coalition, which presented the 293-page report Wednesday in Abuja, comprises other civil society organisations, including BudgIT Foundation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Dataphyte, Step Up Nigeria, Accountability Lab Nigeria, Centre for Health, Equity and Justice (CEHEJ), Basic Rights Watch, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), and others.
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