FG says it is working with the Ogun State Government to reverse the “frivolous order” that led to the seizure of presidential jets.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has accused a Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, of subterfuge after a French court ruled in favour of the firm and granted the seizure of presidential jets belonging to the Nigerian government.
In a statement on Thursday, presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga alleged that the Chinese firm is trying “to take over offshore assets of the Federal Government of Nigeria through subterfuge”.
In the dispute involving an arbitration award, the court in Paris ruled in favour of the Chinese firm, allowing it to seize three presidential jets on routine maintenance in France as “security” for claims in a decades-long judicial matter between the foreign company and the Ogun State government.
Back in 2007, the foreign firm signed a contract with the Ogun State government to manage a free-trade zone but the contract was revoked by the state government in 2015.
Displeased, Zhongshan 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).
