NLNG seeks out of court settlement with NIMASA THE Nigeria Liquefied and Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited yesterday informed a Federal High Court, Lagos that it had begun moves to amicably settle the protracted dispute between it and the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) out of court. Counsel to NLNG, Wale Akoni (SAN) told the court that his client was working on a proposed order to be entered as consent judgment of the court, urging the court to grant him a short adjournment. But counsel to NIMASA, Mike Igbokwe (SAN) clarified that it was NLNG’s shareholders that were in the process of agreeing on the terms to be presented to the court. He added that he would reluctantly concede to an adjournment, but insisted that he would go on with his applications should the settlement talks yield no favourable result. Consequently, the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Idris then fixed tomorrow for report of settlement. The two organisations have been locked in fierce battle over the issue of non-payment of certain statutory levies and charges which NIMASA claims are due to it from NLNG. Justice Idris had on June 18, 2013 in suit between NLNG and Attorney General of the Federation and Global West Vessels Specialists, granted an exparte order restraining the defendants from charging, imposing, demanding or collecting the three per cent of gross freight earnings or any other sums further to Section 15(a) of NIMASA Act 2007 on all of NLNG’s international inbound or outbound cargo ships owned, contracted or subcontracted by it. The Federal Government, in turn, filed an application through its counsel, Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), asking the court to discharge the ex-parte order on the grounds that the order was essentially made against NIMASA, which was not joined as party to the suit. Ajogwu had contended in his application for discharge of the ex-parte order that NIMASA is a body corporate with statutory powers to sue and be sued in its own name and that its non-inclusion as a party was a violation of the principles of fair hearing. Ajogwu noted that the fact that the other side was not heard before the order was made was fatal to the case of NLNG. He further contended on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation that an order cannot be made against a person who is not a party to the suit as it is necessary that such party must be given the opportunity to present its case. The application further states that the dispute that gave rise to the suit was essentially between NLNG and NIMASA, and that the non-inclusion was a deliberate move by NLNG to circumvent the provision of Section 53(2) of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act of 2007, which makes it mandatory for an intending plaintiff to give the statutory body a 30-day pre-action notice. According to Ajogwu: “The reliefs granted the Plaintiffs ex-parte are indeed, in form and substance essentially the reliefs being sought in the substantive suit;” and that the court would not have granted the exparte order if not for the misrepresentation, concealment and non-disclosure of material facts by NLNG.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 11:50:34 +0000