President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, to clear court cases on $1.3 billion deepwater Oil Mining Lease (OML) 245 in Niger Delta.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, disclosed this to journalists on Wednesday in Abuja.
Also affected by the directive are Lokpobiri, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
The Federal Government had in 1998 awarded the 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.
The minister said that parties involved in the deal were currently negotiating to end the more than 28 years crisis and litigations surrounding the prolific oil block located in southern Niger Delta in the next one month.
He 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.”
He said a financial institution, JP Morgan, sued the government for trying to dent its image in the saga, adding that the penalty was now binding on Nigeria.
Lokpobiri added: “So we have been fined over £70 million 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 a conviction.
“And so it makes sense for this government to come and say that for 28 years, this block has been idle.
“This block is a prolific block that will add so much value to our economy, so let’s see how we can resolve the problem.”
He said the federal government has been holding talks with Eni and Shell to see how they can resolve all the problems.
“We are transparent about this process. We have the full government support in resolving this matter. Everything is being done transparently.
“This process has nothing to benefit the president as an individual. His interest is the welfare of Nigerians and to attract investments to the sector for Nigerians to benefit from God-given natural resources,” the minister stated.
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