By Juliet Jacob
Two senior advocates of Nigeria (SAN), Ahmed Raji and Dipo Okpeseyi have asked Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AFG), to obey a court order in respect of a dispute on the multi-million naira e-customs modernisation project.
On Wednesday, a Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting in Abuja, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo approved the implementation of the e-customs project to a concessionaire. The Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, said he wasn’t aware of any court order referred to by the two senior legal advocates.
Messrs Ahmed Raji and Dipo Okpeseyi had, in separate letters, warned the AGF, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) of “underhand efforts being made to obtain FECs approval and or ratification of the re-award of the e-customs modernisation project.”
In the letter, the lawyers specifically asked the council to suspend, discontinue or discountenance any request to initiate deliberations or a fresh request for approval for the award of the said contract to any other bidder aside from the original approval granted by FEC to Messrs e-customs project limited.
“It is in spite of all these that the NCS is pushing to have the Federal Executive Council (FEC) grant another approval with the sole purpose to embarrass, breach and undermine the earlier approval and ratification by FEC and prejudice the matter pending in court,” said Okpeseyi in his letter to the SGF, dated April 11, 2023.
The agents who allegedly executed the disputed concession agreement are the NCS, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited, and African Finance Corporation.
Meanwhile, the Concessionaire has furnished the federal government with $9 million (N4.135 billion) in security. They have also executed the debt facility tensions of $300 million to finance the first phase of the project.
