The book by Anezi Okoro ‘One Week One Trouble’ aptly captures the current Paris refund saga. For some weeks, governors and attorney general of the federation and minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami have been sparring over the $418 million payment of the consultancy fees.
Malami had said governors have no basis for complaining about the Paris Club refund deductions paid to consultants they hired.
He also said the governors took steps to pay the consultants and later decided to stop payment while asking for an out-of-court settlement when the matter was dragged to court.
This, according to him, resulted in a request to President Muhammadu Buhari to make the payment, which was then passed on to the office of the AGF for a legal opinion.
But the governors last Wednesday, described comments credited to Malami, that they have no basis to reject the proposed deductions of $418 million from the Paris Club refund, as self-serving and fraudulent.
Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi disclosed this on Wednesday after a meeting of the forum at the Presidential Villa.
Reading the communique after the meeting, Fayemi vowed that governors will pursue the matter to the highest court of the land.
The Paris Club became popular in Nigeria in 2005 when the ‘Club’ judged the Federal Government’s economic reforms as far-reaching and focused that it canceled 60 percent of the country’s $30bn debt.
Between 1995 and 2002, before the debt was written off, the federal government had agreements with state governments to deduct certain amounts from their federal allocation to service the debts.
Following a final agreement with the club in October 2005, some states that have been overcharged in the debt servicing arrangement applied for a refund.
In December 2016, the federal government eventually agreed to refund the states but in three tranches.
The controversy came about when some consultants demanded money for their service in facilitating the payment, a move the governors frowned at. According to them, there are several deductions from the statutory allocations of states, and further deductions would spell doom.
Recall that the 36 states of the federation in April this year had warned the federal government not to tamper with funds accruing to them and the 774 local councils under the guise of satisfying an alleged $418 million London/Paris Club Loan refund-related judgment debts.
But there is a fresh episode to the drama. Another twist in the tale surfaced during the weekend as consultants working on the London and Paris Club refunds for states and local governments on Saturday alleged that governors demanded and received the sum of $100 million from the consultancy fee to prosecute elections in some states.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, the lead consultant, Hon. Ned Nwoko, alleged that when he submitted a bill of $300 million as the consultancy fee, the state governors demanded to be paid 50 percent of it before it could be honoured.
He said a former chairman of the forum had explained to him that the money was needed to prosecute elections in Bauchi, Ekiti, and Ondo states.
According to him, the Ministry of Justice intervened and the governors eventually received the sum of $100 million.
Nwoko revealed that the money owed to his consultancy firm is $68 million being paid for the last tranche of work done for states and not $418 million that has been in public space.
He disclosed that from the $300 million bill originally submitted, the firm offered a huge discount, noting that the consultants have nothing to do with $418 million, which he said must be a miscalculation.
He absolved Malami of any wrongdoing, saying the minister was only trying to ensure the law was obeyed.
Nwoko said that even though he was initially hired by all the local governments to press for their refunds, the NGF later got him to extend the services to cover the states due to the success of the councils, culminating in the federal government agreeing to begin refunds in 2016.
He explained: “The Federal government in the refunds paid money to accounts provided by the state governors for receipt of the refunds accruable to the states. The governors also provided accounts to receive the refunds accruable to local governments.
“The first tranche refunds to states and local governments the Federal Government wrongly paid the consultancy fees to the NGF. The consultancy fee paid to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) is $86.5m and N19.4 billion.
“While we were laboring to secure the refunds for the benefit of state and local governments, Governor Yari Abubakar developed a parallel scheme to misappropriate the consultancy fees. As recent as 2016 the NGF in a letter to the Accountant General of the Federation dated June 22, 2016 [SHOW DOC] claimed it appointed a consultant.
“During an altercation on one occasion during the several meetings with HE Governor Yari Abubakar, I confronted him about the unconscionable quest to appropriate the $86.5mUSD and N19.4 billion. He claimed it was not for his personal use but was needed for the purposes of the elections in the Bauchi, Ekiti, and Ondo elections.
“Additionally, It should be recalled how some of these monies found their way to some of the leadership of the National Assembly at the time. EFCC was able to clamp down and recover some of the money funneled away by the NGF.
“Most of these frauds are still subject of investigation as well as civil and criminal litigations including our action against the NGF and the Federal Government in Suit No, FHC/ABJ/CS/148/2017.”
Nwoko also alleged that the state governors diverted the refunds meant for their local governments except for five states including Delta, Bauchi, Kwara, Benue, Ondo, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Expectedly, the governors forum fired back, denying claims it received $100m or any other funds from Nwoko to finance elections in any state.
The director of media and public affairs of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, in a statement, said If Nwoko is sure of his facts, he is at liberty to approach the necessary authorities to bring to justice any person or persons and all conspirators (including himself) who were allegedly involved in misappropriating public resources for campaign financing.
He said “The NGF hereby states unequivocally that it has not at any time been involved in or been in receipt of USD$100m or any other funds from NED Nwoko to finance elections in any State.
“Perhaps, confirming our fears and that of the public that the AGF has abdicated his role as a public defender and trustee and become the strongest advocate to the consultants is now evident in NED NWOKO’s press statement wherein he praised the role played by the AGF describing it as inevitable.
“NED cannot say that the consultants have no official Platform to canvass their case, when the AGF has, in spite of public protestation, provided the strongest and most virulent platform to campaign for the expeditious payment of the sums claimed.
“The AGF has addressed and issued over half a dozen press statements justifying why the consultants should be immediately paid. Not even NED’S solicitors could have done any better.
e governor’s forum also accused Nwoko of blurring and obfuscating the real facts and legal issues in controversy by dishing out blatant lies and half-truths.
Barkindo said the facts are and will always remain: whether the claims of the consultants are lawful and justified under the Constitution and whether any Judgment which is a subject of a pending appeal can be enforced or executed as the consultants now attempt to do.
According to him, If both questions are answered in the negative, it does not matter if the contracts leading to the claims were entered into by any public official, past or present.
As the saga continues to unfold, pundits are left wondering where the interest of Nigerians is in this dispute.
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