Court Orders …Bars NLNG Ships From Leaving Bonny

Despite a Federal High Court order in Lagos, restraining the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) from interfering with the operations of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), the Federal Government agency has once again ignored the orders of a court of competent jurisdiction by barring the gas company’s vessels from performing their gas delivery mandates.

This follows the action of NIMASA at 1720hrs last Friday, when its two boats, with 15 naval officers on board, ordered that one NLNG vessel, LNG Imo, and one chartered vessel, Torm Thames, remain at NLNG’s loading bay, whilst another NLNG Vessel, LNG Oyo, should remain outside the Bonny Channel until further notice.

NIMASA had subsequently issued Ship Detention Orders on Saturday, specifically detaining the three NLNG ships – LNG Enugu, LNG Oyo, LNG Imo, and barring them from accessing or leaving the company’s loading bay on Bonny Island, Rivers State.

In a statement, NLNG General Manager, External Relations, Dr Kudo Eresia-Eke, insisted that “these developments are in flagrant disregard of the court injunction issued by the Federal High Court in Lagos in Suit No FHC/L/CS/847/2013 by Honourable Justice M.B. Idris, presiding, on Tuesday 18th June 2013, against the Attorney General of the Federation, Global West, and any other parties, including Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA), from imposing any charges or taking any steps to block, detain or prevent access by the company’s owned or chartered vessels, whether inbound or outbound from Bonny channel or elsewhere in Nigeria.”

It would be recalled that on 3rd May, 2013, NIMASA blocked the Bonny channel, thereby preventing entry and exit of NLNG vessels.

This, The Tide learnt, led to a series of meetings at the instance of the Federal Government, which eventually ordered that the company should pay NIMASA its purported levies.

The statement added that in deference to the government, NLNG made a payment, under protest, in the sum of $20million (approximately N3.2billion) into NIMASA’s designated account, and subsequently approached the court to seek proper judicial clarity and a lasting resolution to the conflict between the NLNG Act and NIMASA Act.