Why Chinese Company Seized Nigeria's Aircraft as FG Begins Talk To Resolve Dispute With Chinese Firm

 By Ayodele Ifasakin 

Yusuf Tuggar, the minister of foreign affairs, says the federal government is working to resolve its dispute with Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment, a Chinese firm.

A French court recently ordered the seizure of three presidential jets belonging to Nigeria over a contract dispute between the Chinese firm and Ogun state government.

Why Chinese Company Seized Nigeria's Aircraft as FG Begins Talk To Resolve Dispute With Chinese Firm 

The court ruled that the firm should use Nigeria’s jets at the Paris-Le Bourget and Basel-Mulhouse international airports as “security for its claim of EUR 74,459,221”.

A US appeal court also ruled that Nigeria’s claim to sovereign immunity cannot stand in a commercial venture.

The court rejected Nigeria’s sovereign immunity defence to the enforcement of a $70 million investment treaty award won by Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd. in a free trade zone.

The Chinese company said it would release one of Nigeria’s seized presidential jets.

Speaking with reporters in Malabo, the capital city of Equatorial Guinea, on Friday, Tuggar said he and Lateef Fagbemi, the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, are on top of the situation.

“This is part of the problem when sub-national actors like state governments take it upon themselves to go into agreements, go into international arrangements, without recourse to the ministry of foreign affairs, without recourse to the federal government, and then when it goes awry, we are left with the problem to deal with,” he said.

“That is why it is always important that such arrangements should be registered with the mission there, with the embassy, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and with the federal government.

“This is something that Ogun state, under a different administration, not this governor, entered into that we’re not aware of. All we know is that they’re going after Nigerian assets.

“That’s why, really, foreign or international negotiations are not the purview of sub-national actors.

“You should always have those that are experienced in such an area that have the necessary skills and the necessary training to negotiate these sorts of agreements.”

The minister said updates would be provided on the matter.

Lagos releases N2.04bn to pensioners in three month

The Lagos State Government has in the last three months released N2.04 billion to clear the arrears of pensions under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
Mrs Folashade Onanuga, the Director General of the Lagos State Pension Commission made this known in a statement in Lagos on Monday.

Onanuga said that the sum represented money released for the months of May, June and July.

She said that N859.06 million was released for the retirees in May, N716.9 million in June and N466.9 million in July, totalling N2.04 billion.
She, however, emphasised that the total pensions fund released by the state government under Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration as of June had hit N38 billion covering  9,214 retirees.

Onanuga said that insurance benefits of N40.2 million were also paid to 15 beneficiaries of deceased employees.

She said that the state employees were expected to have signed-up a Retirement Saving Account with one of the 13 PFAs approved by the state.

The LASPEC boss said the PFAs were AIICO Pension Managers, ARM Pensions, Crusader Sterling Pension, Fidelity Pension Managers, Leadway Pensure, Nigerian Life, and Provident Company, Pension Alliance, and Premium Pension.
The others were Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers, Trustfund Pensions, Sigma Pensions, FUG Pensions, and Legacy Pension Managers.

Onanuga said that the governor was committed to the welfare of retirees and was working toward clearing accrued pension backlogs that the administration inherited under the old pension scheme known as Defined Benefit Scheme.


“Retirees that retired solely under CPS for one reason or the other collected their gratuities upon retirement with steady monthly pension payments because the pension funds under CPS is intact,” Onanuga said.

Punch

3 Remanded in Prison for Stealing Ikeja Electric cables

Three suspected vandals, Kabiru Musa, 20; Abubakar Mohammed Umar, 25 and Rayyali Ibrahim 23, have been remanded in Kirikiri Prisons Lagos for damaging and stealing armored cables from a transformer belonging to Ikeja Electric Plc, at NEPA Coop Estate in Ijede, Ikorodu.

The trio were arraigned at Agbowa Magistrate Court in Ikorodu following their attempt to cart away with cables they had severed from the transformer. They pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge when they appeared before His Honour Magistrate A. O Ogbe on Thursday, July 26, 2018. 

According to the charge sheet, the trio did conspire among themselves “to commit felony to willful damage and stealing and thereby committed an offense punishable under the section 411 of the criminal law, laws of the Lagos State of Nigeria 2015.

The charge further stated that they “willfully and unlawfully interfered with Ikeja Electric Distribution Company’s Electric Transformer thereby disconnecting its Step-Down cable and Upriser Cable with intent to steal and thereby committed an offense punishable under section 340 of the criminal law, laws of the Lagos State of Nigeria 2015. “On the same date, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District the suspects did steal 24 meter of electric transformer armored cable value Sixty Five Thousand Naira (N65,000) property of Ikeja Electric Distribution Company and thereby committed an offense punishable under section 280(2)(a) of the criminal law, laws of the Lagos State of Nigeria 2015,” the charge read.

Magistrate A. O Ogbe adjourned the case till next month for hearing while the three suspects have been moved to Kirikiri Prison for failure to meet the bail conditions. In his reaction, Head of Corporate Communications for Ikeja Electric, Felix Ofulue, confirmed that vandalism, theft of electricity materials and energy theft through meter bypass and illegal connections, remain a major challenge facing the company.

According to him, these illegal activities further sabotages the company’s efforts to provide excellent service delivery as customers will be affected by the extended power outage resulting from these unpleasant activities. He commended the security agencies for providing dependable support and for the role they play in protecting IE infrastructure against vandalism while he further urged the Community Development Association (CDA) chairmen and members of the public to assist the DisCo in safeguarding the electrical infrastructure in their respective communities.