New Telegraph

We saved Ajaokuta steel by reducing $5.28bn contract claim to $496m – FG

The Federal Government settled the long-standing contractual dispute with a foreign investor group in the steel space to secure a reduction of the money in contention from $5.258 billion to $496million, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami has said. He said this in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations Dr. Umar Gwandu. The mediation proceedings, according to the statement, were under the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) framework led by Mr Phillip Howell-Richardson. The settlement agreement came into effect on August 19.

The statement said: “Nigeria succeeded in reducing the claim in mediation brought by the international firm of King and Spalding, legal representatives of the Global group, by 91%.

A claim for over $10 billion was threatened in arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce, International Court of Arbitration, Paris, in respect of five major contracts of 2004-2007 – covering steel, iron ore, and rail.

“It might be recalled that the seeds of the disputes can be traced to five contracts entered into by the 1999 -2007 administration that gave complete dominance over the Nigerian steel space to one  company group, the Global Steel group.

“However, in 2008 a new administration proceeded to terminate these contracts contrary to legal advice supplied by the Ministry of Justice, which cited the termination cost in the form of damages.”

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