Atiku’s Intels battles Nigerian govt in court

Onne port fit 

The business dispute between the Nigerian government and the Integrated Logistics Services Nigeria Limited, Intels, is now a subject of litigation, with Intels accusing authorities of breaching agreements and sabotaging its multi-billion dollar ports investments through de-categorization of terminals, court papers sighted by PREMIUM TIMES have revealed.
The Nigerian Ports Authority had in May conveyed to operators the approval of the country’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, to designate ports operations into three broad categories of bulk cargo, container cargo and multipurpose cargo.
The administration consequently reviewed the categorization of Onne Port, controlled by Intels before its policy review, as “Oil and Gas Multi-purpose Cargo Terminal”.
In effect, therefore, the government moved to make Onne Port open for all categories of cargoes.
Onne is the most important hub for oil and gas industry in Nigeria, accounting for 65 per cent of cargo export through the country’s sea, according to NPA, and hosting operations of all major oil and gas companies within its massive free trade zone.
The president’s approval also guaranteed that “all importers are free to choose any terminal or port for the discharge of their cargoes”, thereby effectively ending Intels monopoly.
But Intels has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the policy review, joining the federal government, Attorney-General of the Federation, NPA, Ministry of Transport and the Bureau of Public Enterprises as respondents.
In its suit filed on June 4, Intels said the review amounted to violation of an October 24, 2005 Lease Agreements in respect of the Warri New Terminal, Warri Old Terminal, Calabar Terminal B, Federal Lighter Terminal B (Onne) and Federal Ocean Terminal A (Onne). Read more