Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has written to two contractors, Marie Tecnimont S.P.A and Saipem Contracting Nigeria Ltd to request information on the completion date for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt, Warri & Kaduna Refineries.
From copies of the letters dated Sept 17 and addressed to the Managing Directors of both firms, who were awarded the contracts of the refineries.
Falana said in the letters that he confirmed that the Federal Government awarded Maire Tecnimont S.P.A. the contracts for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refineries for the sum of US$1.5bn while Saipem got the contracts for the Warri and Kaduna refineries for the same amount.
“In line with the terms of the contract which was awarded sometime in April 2021, the project is expected to be completed in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months,” he said.
The senior advocate made the requests under the Freedom of Information Act which gives the contractors seven days within which to respond to his letter.
Falana stated that notwithstanding that the contractors are private companies, they are bound by the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act because they utilised huge public funds to execute the rehabilitation contracts and failure to provide the requested information will result in legal redress at the court.
“In the case of Coscharis Motors Ltd. v. The E.I.E Project Ltd/GTE & Anor. (2022) CLRN 63, the Court of Appeal held that a “private body or company would be as accountable as a public institution or body under the Act if it has provided any form of public services, or performed any form of public function or utilized public funds.”
“In view of the foregoing, you are advised to accede to our request in order to assure the Nigerian people that the contract sum of $1.5 billion has been judiciously utilised for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcout refineries,” he said.
