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A court has ordered another Nigerian asset to be seized over the country’s ongoing legal tussle with Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd., a Chinese firm.
In January 2023, the superior court of Quebec in Canada ordered the seizure of Bombardier 6000 Jet (type BD-700-1A10) belonging to Nigeria.
The Canadian court ordered “Mise-en-cause (Tibit Limited) and/or the Custodians (Aviation Etcetera SEC and/or Starlink Aviation Inc.) or any of their parent, subsidiary or affiliated entities” to hand over the jet.
The order was made by David Collier, the judge.
The Chinese firm approached the Canadian court for the seizure in a bid to enforce a $70 million arbitral award against Nigeria.
NIGERIA’S DELAYED RESPONSE
After the seizure order in January 2023, Nigeria was summoned to the Quebec court.
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According to court documents, Nigeria had been notified of the legal action by the Chinese on April 19, 2023, through diplomatic channels.
Nigeria did not file its response within the timeframe as stipulated in the Code of Civil Procedures.
Although the deadline is not mandatory, the Canadian court reserves the right to determine whether a party filed within the timeframe.
After receiving the diplomatic notification of the request to enforce the arbitral award in Canada, Nigeria filed a response on January 11, 2024.
On February 15, 2024, Nigeria filed a request to be absolved of its failure to respond within the stipulated time.
Nigeria had told the court that it could not respond expeditiously because there was a delay while comparing notes with the Ogun state government — the subnational entity responsible for the arbitral award.
Nigeria said Ogun held a governorship election in March 2023 and that an attorney-general for the state was not appointed until October 2023.
Nigeria added that it was unable to brief its Quebec lawyers before January 11, 2024.
In his ruling in March 2024, Chantal Corriveau, a judge at the superior court of Quebec, dismissed Nigeria’s argument as “unreasonable”.
HOW NIGERIA GOT THE SEIZED JET
In May 2020, a court in the province of Quebec granted the seizure order of the jet in favour of the federal government.
The government told the court that the jet was originally acquired by Dan Etete, a former minister of petroleum.
Nigeria said the jet was procured from the controversial oil prospecting licence (OPL) 245 deal.
It was also alleged that the jet was acquired in the name of Tibit Limited, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
The sum of $57 million was said to have been used to purchase the jet in 2011.
The OPL 245 deal involves the $1.3 billion purchase of an oil block by Royal Dutch Shell and Eni from Malabu Oil and Gas, a company in which Etete had major shares.
THE CHINESE FIRM’S CASE
In 2010, Zhongshan, through Zhuhai Zhongfu Industrial Group Co. Ltd. (Zhuhai), its Chinese parent company, acquired rights to develop a free trade zone in Ogun state.
A year later, Zhongshan set up Zhongfu International Investment (NIG) FZE (Zhongfu) to manage the project, with the permission of the Ogun state government.
However, things took a different turn in July 2016 when the investor accused the state government of abruptly moving to terminate its contract, while attempting to install a new manager for the free trade zone.
Subsequently, Zhongfu initiated an investment treaty arbitration against Nigeria under the bilateral investment treaty between the People’s Republic of China and Nigeria (the China-Nigeria BIT).
The arbitrators had ruled that Nigeria was in breach of its obligations under the China-Nigeria BIT and awarded Zhongshan a compensation of about $70 million.
Recently, a French court ordered the seizure of three presidential jets belonging to the Nigerian government over the contract dispute.
A court of appeal in the United States also ruled that Nigeria’s claim of sovereign immunity cannot stand in a commercial venture.
A commercial court in London had also granted the Chinese firm permission to seize two residential properties owned by Nigeria in the UK — over the arbitral award.
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