The Federal Government of Nigeria has vowed to prosecute everyone linked with the United Kingdom contract that resulted in the judgment of the Business and Property Courts (the Commercial Court) which awarded a cumulative sum of $9bn against Nigeria.
The commercial court awarded the sum in favour of Process and Industrial Developments Limited, a private firm recently.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami, announced the decision of the government to prosecute those involved on Thursday at a news briefing in Abuja.
He said, “The Federal Government of Nigeria strongly views with serious concerns, the underhand manners by which the negotiation, signing, and formation of the contract was carried out by some vested interests in the past administration in connivance with their local and international conspirators, all in the bid to inflict grave economic adversity on the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the good people of Nigeria.”
Mr Malami alleged that the contract formed part of the inglorious legacies of past administrations and questioned the sincerity of those behind the contract awarded in 2010.
He also decried the situation where the Muhammadu Buhari administration was made to grapple with the problems created by the previous administration.
The minister, however, stated that henceforth, contract of certain categories would be vetted by the Federal Ministry of Justice before being signed by any government agency.
He also expressed concerns about the impact of public corruption and the connivance of financial institutions in the thriving crime of illicit finance flow out of the country.
“As a government that has the mandate of the people and their interest at heart, we shall not fold our arms and allow this injustice to go unpunished,” Malami said.
He added, “All efforts, actions, and steps shall be taken to bring to book all private individuals, corporate entities, and government officials; home and abroad, past and present that played direct and indirect roles in the conception, negotiation, signing, formation, as well as prosecution of the purported agreement.”
