Court Halts FG’s Implementation of Disputed e-Customs Concession Project

Alex Enumah in Abuja

A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the federal government to halt the implementation of the Customs Modernisation Project otherwise known as e-Customs allegedly executed by its agents on May 30, 2022.

Justice Inyang Ekwo also issued an order of interim injunction restraining the government or its agents acting through the Federal Executive Council (FEC) from retrospectively ratifying the decisions to concession the e-Customs project to Trade Modernisation Project Limited, Huawei Technologies Company Limited and African Finance Corporation.

The restraining order, the court held, shall last till the hearing and the determination of a suit brought against the federal government by two aggrieved companies: E-Customs HC Project Limited and Bionica Technologies  (West Africa) Limited.

The plaintiffs are jointly challenging the alleged unlawful and fraudulent concession of the e-custom project to African Finance Corporation (AFC). 

The orders were made following a motion exparte argued by a lawyer to the plaintiffs, Mr Anone Usman, who prayed the court to temporarily halt the execution of the project to protect the interest of his clients.

The disputed concession project was already being executed by the Nigerian Customs Service, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited and African Finance Corporation.

Justice Ekwo while ruling on the ex-parte application on Friday, granted the prayers of the plaintiffs who placed sufficient evidence of interest in the concession project.

The judge also granted permission to the aggrieved companies to serve a writ of summons and all other processes on the AFC at its head office, located in Ikoyi, Lagos through DHL courier services.

Defendants in the suit are the Federal Government of Nigeria, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Finance Minister, Infrastructure Regulatory Concession Commission, (IRCC) Nigeria Customs Service, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, Huawei Technologies Limited, AFC and Bergman Security Consultant and Supply Limited as 1st to 9th defendants, respectively. 

Justice Ekwo subsequently fixed June 28 for a hearing in the matter.

The two plaintiffs had in their statement of claims narrated how they proposed to carry out the Customs Modernisation Project through several government officials for the benefit of the Nigerian Customs Service. 

They claimed that after a series of meetings and negotiations with some of the defendants, President Muhammudu Buhari granted anticipatory approval for the e-Custom Project. 

They averred that on September 2, 2020, the Minister of Finance presented a memo with the number EC2020/153 to the FEC, the highest decision-making body of the federal government and secured approval for the two plaintiffs to be granted the award of the concession.

Plaintiffs further claimed that trouble started when the Nigeria Customs Service unilaterally reviewed the FEC approval and imposed other conditions among which are shareholding formulae and governance structure on them.

They claimed that the power of the Nigeria Customs Service to unilaterally review FEC approval was protested and that the Comptroller General of the agency stood his ground. 

Plaintiff asserted that to their surprise, they read in the news that the Nigeria Customs Service had executed a concession agreement with the Trade Modernisation Project on May 30, 2022, with Huawei Technologies Company and AFC in total breach of the Concession Agreement vetted by the AGF in conjunction with the Minister of Finance.

They averred that Trade Modernisation Project Limited was incorporated in April 2022 at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with one Alhaji Saleh Ahmadu, a close friend of the Comptroller General as the Chairman. 

Plaintiff asserted that the new company, having been just incorporated in April 2022 could not have obtained and did not obtain the full business case compliance certificate from the IRCC and the approval of the FEC to carry out the e-Customs project.

They, therefore, asked the court to make a declaration that the decisions of the federal government and its agent to enter into a concession agreement with Trade Modernisation Project Limited, Huawei Technologies Company and AFC in respect of the e-Customs project is illegal, null and void, having been made in gross violation of Section 2 of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Act 2005