Michael Aondooakaa, a former Nigerian Minister of Justice, has made a shocking revelation about the Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID) gas contract.
YaahooJournalist reports that the Minister of Justice said the P&ID contract was not approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
This online news medium recalls that a British court gave the company the approval to seize Nigerian assets worth over $9 billion during the week.
P&ID, an Irish engineering company, entered into a 20-year gas and supply processing agreement (GSPA) with the federal government of Nigeria in 2010, to build a state-of-the-art gas processing facility in Calabar.
However, the Irish engineering company said after spending several years preparing for the project, it collapsed because the Nigerian government did not build a pipeline or secure supply of gas as stipulated in the agreement.
P&ID then sought judicial remedy in 2012, and in 2017, it was awarded $6.6 billion in damages – of which interest rose to $9 billion.
Aondoakaa, a former Attorney General of the Federation, said he was not aware of the gas supply and processing agreement that P&ID entered with Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources in January 2010.
The former Minister of Justice said he is in total support of efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari and Justice Minister, Malami Abubakar Malami, to probe the $9.6 billion United Kingdom (UK) judgment debt against the country.
Aondoakaa, who was the AGF between July 2007 and February 2010 when the contract was signed, stated in a telephone interview with The Nation, that throughout his tenure, no such contract was brought to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for deliberation.
“As the then Chief Law Officer of the federation and a member of the FEC, I can tell you that no such contract was brought for deliberation to the best of my knowledge,” he said.
According to Aondoakaa, “with such a huge contract sum involved, the best practice was after due process might have been certified alongside tenders board, the contract with Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) should have been forwarded to FEC for deliberation and final approval before Ministry of Petroleum resources would go ahead with the award of the contract of such nature because of the involvement of another country.”
“But I can tell you without fear of contradictions that I saw nothing like that before FEC.
“I did not see such contract and since the news broke out I’m wondering how this could have been possible,” the former AGF added.
The former dismissed media reports of his alleged involvement in the contract and called for a thorough probe by the Federal Government to unravel those behind the mystery contract.
Meanwhile, YaahooJournalist reports that the process leading to the award of the contract has raised concerns with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) declaring it would investigate those involved in it.