Nigeria: Corruption or curse?

An extraordinary event happened in Nigerian affairs penultimate week. Two former presidents of Nigeria testified in a foreign court over a probable corruption case. The range of things that have happened and continue to happen around the world in relation to corruption are limitless and difficult to fathom. But I sincerely doubt if it has […]

An extraordinary event happened in Nigerian affairs penultimate week. Two former presidents of Nigeria testified in a foreign court over a probable corruption case. The range of things that have happened and continue to happen around the world in relation to corruption are limitless and difficult to fathom. But I sincerely doubt if it has ever happened before that two former presidents of a country testify in a foreign country in a case that has “corruption” written all over it.

That’s what makes it extra-ordinary, even though here in Nigeria, it passed as just one of those Nigerian things. Where has this ever happened before? That a president would testify in the courts of another country that he never approved the award of an energy development contract in excess of $6 billion as far back as 2003, even though his own minister of power at the time claims the government did?

Where has it ever happened before that another president of the same country would testify in the same foreign court in the same so-called arbitration process that he never approved any “settlement agreement” with the same company about 15 years later after the supposed initial contract, even though it appears that some of his own ministers were also involved in the “agreement” he never approved?

I do not know, but I doubt if it has ever been the case that any one or more of Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, or yet, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya would be compelled to appear in the courts of another country just to testify that they did not award any contract or approve any agreement for which a private company is claiming damages in a foreign court. And yet, these kinds of shenanigans are routine in Nigeria.

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We must commend Presidents Obasanjo and Buhari for their uncommon patriotism and steadfastness in standing up for Nigeria before the world, regardless of any personal inconveniences to them. We must thank them for their service even in retirement. And we must also admire and cherish the motivation behind their personal sacrifice, because let us face this case squarely. I find it disrespectful and shameful that former Nigerian presidents are dragged out of retirement to testify in a foreign country over what is clearly an attempt, not for the first time, to swindle Nigeria out of billions of dollars. As a country and as a people, we cannot ignore the ignominy of what this whole case, and many before it, represents for Nigeria.

I am not a lawyer, yet, but the facts of this case are quite clear. Only a Nigerian president can approve a contract worth billions of dollars or any settlement agreement worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And once it is clear that no president approved the contract to begin with, and none approved any settlement agreement, the matter should simply end there. There can be no contract or agreement without the approval of legitimate authority, after all, government is not a zoo.

Unfortunately, things are not that simple in Nigeria. This is why this case represents a classic example of what we Nigerians like to say “only in Nigeria”. The company at the heart of this case, Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited is a Nigerian business. The company’s main promoter and Chairman/CEO, Leno Adesanya, is a Nigerian. The various ministers of power, justice, and others involved in the case across four generations, are all Nigerians.

There is no evidence anywhere that this company has ever done anything in the area of power projects before it claims to have been awarded a contract worth $6 billion. Where else does this happen? To award what is more or less a briefcase company billions of dollars in contract? Moreover, there is little evidence that this company has done anything on the ground at or near the site of the Mambilla power project for which it now claims billions of dollars in compensation. Where else does this happen?

How is it logically or legally possible for anyone to claim damages or compensation for a “breach of contract” in a contract that was not even awarded in the first place, and for a job that was not done? Only in Nigeria.

We all like to talk about corruption in Nigeria. Yet, the kind of corruption in this country is something else that the word ‘corruption’ itself cannot fully describe. And sometimes I wonder whether Nigeria’s problem is in fact corruption or a curse, otherwise, how is it even possible for such a flimsy case to drag on over two decades, and across four different administrations? Again, only in Nigeria.

As former President Obasanjo said as far back as December 2023, his personal testimony is not even necessary because the records are there that he did not approve the contract, and therefore the whole thing is null and void. All other ministers who have had anything to do with this case would also have seen this clearly, so any talk of “settlement agreement” would not at all have arisen. As Buhari said, it was clear to him that Sunrise did not have any case and therefore no claim.

If this was clear to President Buhari, how could it not have been clear to his ministers who supposedly “signed” the agreement? We must not also forget that Nigeria has procurement laws that are enforced by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), an agency of the government, in addition to the Federal Executive Council, and the civil service, all of whom must be aware of any contracts of such huge sums. How, then, did those things happen without the knowledge and due process of all these agencies?

This is where this case links up with similar cases in the past, and in the present. In October 2023, a judge in London dismissed an earlier “arbitration award” of a staggering $11.5 billion against the Federal Government of Nigeria and in favour Process & Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID). The company had claimed damages for a supposedly 2010 failed contract, and was awarded a compensation of this unbelievable amount in 2017. The case was eventually dismissed, of course, but how did it even get to that point in the first place?

And as I write this, Nigeria is facing a similar case involving yet another company, Donnington Nigeria Ltd, and its foreign partners, over the Cargo and Crude Oil Tracking and Notification (ACD/CTN) scheme. No one knows how the putrid winds of this case will eventually blow, but the pattern is now clear.

Briefcase companies in Nigeria promoted with little or no experience of doing any work in their stated area of experience will connive with foreign partners and Nigerian government officials to get dubious contracts they lack the technical and financial resources to complete. The project, of course, will remain uncompleted, even after claiming millions of dollars in “consultancy fees”. But because the projects are usually important to the nation’s development, a new government will see the need to re-award the contract to another company, and then the vultures will begin to circle around, and go to court to claim billions in damages. Many have made billions through this process, but it is time to say no, never again.