After Termination in 2020, FG Resumes Contract With Company Formerly Owned by Atiku

• The FG has directed Intels Nigeria Limited to reinstate the service boat operation contract with the NPA
• Intels' contract with the NPA was earlier terminated by the federal government in 2020
• The company which was co-owned by Atiku Abubakar, has over the years, been at loggerheads with the NPA

Legit.ng journalist Victor Enengedi has over a decade's experience covering Energy, MSMEs, Technology and the stock market.

The service boat operation contract between the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Integrated Logistics Services (Intels) Nigeria Limited has been extended, with the NPA instructing the company to recommence its services promptly.

The directive was outlined in a November 30, 2023 circular issued by the NPA and titled 'Reinstatement of Intels Nigeria Limited as the monitoring provider for service boat operations in the pilotage district.'

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Charles Okaga, the Ports Manager at the Lagos Port Complex, signed the circular.

NPA instructs Intels to resume operations

It would be recalled that in 2020, the NPA terminated its agreement with Intels Nigeria Limited.

Consequently, the responsibility for boat service operations, previously outsourced to Intels, was brought under the direct management of the NPA.

However, in the Thursday circular, the NPA instructed Intels to resume operations without delay.

The Authority clarified that the instruction aligns with the conditions outlined in the extended contract as the Managing Agency Agreement specified.

The memo read in part:

Further to the above and to support the authority and Federal Government’s drive to increase revenue generation from the service boat operators, Messers. Intels Nigeria Limited has been directed to resume service immediately.

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This is in line with the terms of the extended contract container in the Managing Agency Agreement conveying the scores of the service in condition to the obligations of the agent.

It is noteworthy that Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President of Nigeria, divested his stakes in Intels through a series of transactions in 2021.

According to Legit.ng report, Atiku divested his shares over a two-year period, selling them to Orleal Investment Group, the parent company of Intels, for varying amounts that collectively exceeded $100 million.

Background to Intels' contract contamination

In June 2017, the Nigerian government took action against a company established over three decades ago by Gabriele Volpi, an Italian national holding Nigerian citizenship, and Mr Abubakar.

Earlier in April of the same year, President Muhammadu Buhari endorsed the recommendations of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, thereby breaking Intels' near-monopoly in handling oil and gas cargoes in the country.

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In 2020, Mr. Malami directed the Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman, to terminate the illegal boats' pilotage monitoring and supervision agreement with Intels.

He argued that the agreement, which allowed Intels to collect revenue on behalf of NPA for 17 years, violated the Nigerian Constitution.

Subsequently, the NPA terminated the Pilotage Agency Agreement with Intels following months of disagreements over the company's operations in Nigerian ports.

The NPA-Intels controversy raged on till April 2023 when Bala Usman alleged in her memoir that Intels owed the Nigerian government $207 million as of the time she left office.

Atiku fumes as NNPC secures $3 billion loan to stabilise naira

In a related development, Legit.ng reported that Atiku offered his perspective on the recently acquired $3 billion loan by NNPC from Afreximbank aimed at stabilising the naira.

In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former Vice President described the NNPC loan as deceptive.

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He asserted that the loan constituted a strategy to artificially boost the naira's value in the parallel market, emphasizing that such monetary policies fall under the purview of the CBN, not the NNPC.

Atiku also recalled the incident during Tinubu's administration, highlighting the detention of the then-suspended CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, over $7.5 billion Forex loans from JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs deployed to defend the naira.

Source: Legit.ng