NEWS
Host Communities Drag Shell to Court for Breach of “Mareva” Injunction
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mr Mohammed Ndarani, on behalf of over 1,216 residents of host communities filed a claim of N500 billion against Shell Petroleum Development Company for breach of subsisting “Mareva” injunction.Report says that a mareva injunction. to prevent the dissipation or removal of assets by defendants where it would be to avoid judgment.
The case, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja with number FHC/ABJ/cs/1300/2024. This follows a reported 2.8 billion dollars divestment deal between Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited and a group of Nigerian organisations and which the host communities are kicking against.The communities claimed that the recent transaction between Shell and Renaissance is a clear breach of the subsisting Mareva injunction granted by the Federal High Court, Akure on Sept. 28 2023.The injunction restrained Shell from disposing its assets in Nigeria until the conclusion of the case.The communities are also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining Shell, Renaissance and any other intending investors from entering any further negotiations towards the disposal of the said assets in breach of the injunction.They prayed the court to order Shell to within 48 hours of the delivery of judgment in this suit, pay the sum of N500 billion as damages and another N5 billion as the cost of prosecuting the suit and legal representation.The host communities, who sad that they are fish farmers, claimed that they suffered a great loss of properties due to the incessant incidents of oil spillage occasioned by ruptured pipelines belonging to Shell.The claimants are also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining Shell, Renaissance and any other intending investors from entering into any further negotiations towards the disposal of the said assets.SPDC JV, which operates 15 onshore and three shallow-water oil mining leases in Nigeria, had earlier this year moved to sell its assets to Renaissance.Renaissance is a consortium of ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith, and Petrolin.The deal is valued at 1.3 billion dollars , with an additional 1.1billion dollars in potential payments related to receivables and cash balances.The net book value of the assets is 2.8billion dollars as of Dec. 31, 2023, and further contingent payments were expected, depending on business performance and product price fluctuations. (NAN)NEWS
Customs Intercept Contraband Worth N510.92m in Two Conths
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit Zone C, says it intercepted contrabands with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N510.92 million between July 15th and September 15th, 2024.The zone covers the six states in the South-South geopolitical zone and the five states in the Southeast geopolitical zone.
This is contained in a statement signed by Jerry Attah, Public Relations Officer, NCS, Zone C, and made available to journalists on Wednesday. According to the statement, Comptroller Michael Ugbagu, NCS, Zone C, gave the statistics while showcasing the seized contraband to relevant regulatory agencies at the Government Warehouse in Edo.Ugbagu said that the zone also recovered the sum of N25.57 million from demand notices raised based on some infractions noticed, making a cumulative sum of N536.49 million recorded within the months under review.“The DPV was derived from our seized goods, which include 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without an NAFDAC number.“1,015 sacks of dry donkey meat and skin, 75 jumbo bales of second-hand clothing, 463 cartons of foreign spaghetti, 269 pieces of used pneumatic tires, and 56 cartons of smuggled foreign tomato paste.“More worrisome is the interception of 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without NAFDAC registration numbers.”He noted that the cough syrup with codeine and tramadol without NAFDAC registration numbers, if not intercepted, could have had adverse effects on youths.He added that the items were mostly intercepted along the Ewu-Okada/Benin expressways based on credible intelligence. (NAN)NEWS
APC Forum Decries Deplorable Condition of Federal Roads
The Forum of Stakeholders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has decried the deplorable condition of some federal roads in Nigeria. Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, the North-Central Chairman of the forum, said this in an interaction with newsmen on Wednesday in Jos. Zazzaga described some of the federal roads as ”death traps”, particularly those within the north-central region.
He said that some of the deplorable roads in the region include Jos-Akwanga, Makurdi-Oturkpo-Otukpa, Makurdi-Ankpa, and Jos-Saminaka. Other roads that needed urgent attention, he said, included Suleja-Minna, Ejule-Otukpa, Ganawuri-Manchok, Lokoja-Abuja, Lapai-Agaie-Bida, Birnin-Gwari-Bokani-Mokwa, Minna-Zungeru-Tegina-Kontagora. ”Currently, the north-central region has the most deplorable roads and highways in the country. ”These deplorable roads have brought severe hardship on the people and lost lives and property through preventable road traffic crashes. ”We call on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and ensure the rehabilitation of these roads because good roads are vital enablers of development,” he said. The chairman also called on governors of states within the region to reconstruct the dilapidated roads and seek refunds from the federal government. ”Though these are largely federal roads, they are located within states, and the beneficiaries are the people of these states. ”So we call on state governments to reconstruct these roads and seek refunds from the federal government,” he added. (NANNEWS
Yuan Strengthens 7. 087 Against Dollar
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 160 pips to 7.087 against the dollar on Wednesday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreigners exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)