President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, to clear court cases on the $1.3 billion deepwater OML 245 oil bloc in the Niger Delta.
Others that received the directive are the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri; the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC); and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Lokpobiri made this known while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, January 24, 2024.
The federal government had, in 1998, awarded the Oil Mining Lease (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.
However, with progress in the awards, this has turned out to be a pain. It has been a constant source of litigation for successive governments due to allegations surrounding fraud and corruption in awarding the licence.
Tinubu: Nigeria not nation of fraudsters
The minister said parties involved in the deal were currently negotiating to end the more than 28 years crisis and litigations surrounding the prolific oil bloc located in southern Niger Delta in the next one month.
Lokpobiri 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 pounds.”
He stated that JP Morgan, a financial institution, sued the government for trying to dent its image in the saga, adding that the penalty was now binding on Nigeria.
The minister said: “So we have been fined over 70 million pounds by the court. Who will pay 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 conviction.
“And so it makes sense for this government to come and say that for 28 years, this bloc has been idle.
“This bloc is a prolific bloc that will add so much value to our economy, so let’s see how we can resolve the problem.”
Lokpobiri further disclosed that they were in talks with Eni and Shell to see how they could resolve all the problems.
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