The Federal Government has tasked the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority with sourcing $200m for settlement of International Court of Arbitration in Paris award in favour of the Chinese firm, Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.
Checkout Magazine learnt that the Federal Government had agreed to pay the sum and had mandated NSIA to work out measures for settling the debt.
The $200m settlement offer was to compensate Sunrise Power for the unlawful termination of the contract for the 1,525 megawatts Mambilla hydropower project and the re-award of the same to another Chinese firm.
Based on the terms of the settlement, Sunrise is expected to relinquish all claims to the project once the requirements contained in the agreement with the Federal Government are settled.
The Special Assistant to the Minister of Power on Media, Aaron Artimas, disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority to take up the matter.
He said the government through the NSIA and other channels was working on how to settle the debt, stressing that it was incorrect to allege that there was no plan to honour the agreement.
He added that, “The only issue now is the delay in payment, but the government has committed to the agreement. However, the government is explaining that the challenge of COVID-19 affected its finances.
“But despite that, the NSIA was given a mandate on this by the President, because the government has to find money somewhere, as this was not budgeted for. So the government will pay.”
The power minister’s aide also stated that the international court had not come up with any fresh issue for the Federal Government.
