By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Lateef Fagbemi, and relevant parties to clear court cases on the $1.3 billion deepwater Oil Mining Lease (OML) 245 oil block in Niger Delta.
This is coming as JP Morgan, a financial institution, was awarded a £70 million payment based on a lawsuit claiming that Nigeria was trying to dent its image in the saga.
Others that received the directive are the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Mr Heineken Lokpobiri, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
Speaking on this, Mr Lokpobiri said in Abuja that the parties involved in the deal were currently negotiating to end the more than 28 years of crisis and litigations surrounding the prolific oil block located in the southern Niger Delta in the next month.
The federal government had in 1998 awarded the OML 245 to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited for $20 million. The license covers a defined deep-water offshore area more than 1,000 metres below sea level and approximately 150 km off the Niger Delta.
Over the years, the lease has become a constant source of litigation for successive governments due to allegations surrounding fraud and corruption in awarding the licence.
The Minister said, “The previous administration initiated most of the cases that we are talking about today, and they took us to court, while we took Eni, Malabu, and others to different courts in Europe, Canada, etc, but we didn’t win any of the cases.
“To even shock you, there is one that got us a penalty of over £70 million,” he said, referring to JP Morgan.
“So, we have been fined over £70 million by the court. Who will pay for that? You and I will pay that, or our children will pay, because it is a judgement debt.
“And in all the ones that we pursue both in Switzerland and other locations, we have no evidence to get a conviction.
“And so it makes sense for this government to come and say that for 28 years, this block has been idle.
“This block is a prolific block that will add so much value to our economy, so let’s see how we can resolve the problem,” he said.
He said they were in talks with Eni and Shell, to see how they could resolve all the problems.
He said that at the last meeting, it was agreed that parties should go on with negotiations and reconvene within one month to see how we will be able to sort out all the issues so that the investment can continue.
According to him, the parties of the federal government interfacing with Eni and Shell is the Attorney-General of the Federation, which leads the delegation. It includes NUPRC, EFCC, NNPC, and the Minister of State for Petroleum.
He said, “We are transparent about this process. We have a full government in resolving this matter. Everything is being done transparently.
“This process has nothing to benefit the President as an individual, his interest is the welfare of Nigerians and to attract investments to the sector for Nigerians to benefit from God-given natural resources.”