Abia State Government says its policy on housing is in agreement with that of the Federal Government for the country. Governor Alex Otti, OFR, who made the position of the state known, said Abia is in alignment with President Bola Tinubu’s vision on provision of affordable housing to Nigerians.

The Governor spoke when received in audience, a delegation of the Federal Housing Authority led by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Rt. Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, who visited him on Tuesday.

Governor Otti said that his administration would show sufficient interest in the proposed federal housing project in Abia, stressing that the importance of shelter, which is one of the three most basic needs of man, cannot be over emphasised. He disclosed that his administration had already identified a location as it had been working on the idea of a diaspora village in the state, which is also one of the propositions of the Federal Government’s housing programme.

He thanked the President for the decision to ensure that Nigerians have roofs over their heads and particularly for assuring that contractors for the execution of the federal housing project would be sourced from within the benefitting states. He equally expressed joy that the Federal Housing Authority would be consulting with states to know what exactly the people want in terms of housing, adding that it is the best approach for achieving an acceptable housing project.

“Please give our regards to Mr. President and reassure him that where housing is on his vision is also where housing is on our vision here. So, we’re aligned. “I also want to thank you for not just imposing on people, but recognising the differences in culture and lifestyles. We are the same but again different people, and we must respect our choices. So, for respecting those choices and consulting on what the people want, I want to say, thank you.

“I also want to thank you for your decision to ensure that the contractors are local. Before now, schemes like these are used to settle boys, settle interests and all that, but you now bringing it home to say that the contractors must come from here (Abia) and we take responsibility, places a burden on those that are going to recommend the contractors because if you don’t recommend the right contractors, you’re going to live with it.

“For us, it’s so critical and that is why anything we’re doing, we must use the best, and sometimes people say it’s expensive. But just like the wise saying, if you think education is expensive, try ignorance. So, when you take half baked contractors, they would produce half baked jobs,” Governor Otti explained.

Earlier, Hon. Ojo stated that housing was key to President Tinubu’s administration. He told the Governor that his team’s visit to Abia was to intimate the Governor on the proposal of the Federal Government to acquire land and build affordable houses for Abians.He said the President identified that there was deficiency in shelter in Nigeria and he is willing to provide affordable housing for Nigerians.

According to him, the plan is to meet with state Governors and design together, the kind of housing to be built in each state, saying that the inputs of the Governors are important to the project.The FHA Chief Executive, who came in company of the former Governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, was accompanied on his visit by some senior management team of the agency.

KAZIE UKO

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor Abia State Government House, Umuahia April 10, 2024.

The Enugu State Government has provided clarifications on why it entered into a N100bn deal with Pragmatic Palms Limited to revive United Palm Products Limited, a dormant asset owned by the state and established by the former Premier of Eastern Region, late Dr. Michael Okpara.

Reacting to a viral whatsapp text that showed that Pragmatic Palms Limited, the company that signed the deal with the state government, was incorporated on May 6, 2024, with the deal made public by the state government on May 9, 2024, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Enugu State on External Relations, Uche Anichukwu, stated that “Enugu State Government IS NOT releasing N100bn or any dime to Pragmatic Palms Ltd. Instead, Pragmatic Palms Ltd, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the partnership, will finance the revitalisation of UPPL.”

Refuting insinuations that it was unethical for the state government to enter into the deal with a newly incorporated company, Anichukwu, in a statement titled ‘Facts of the N100bn Deal to Revive Moribund Enugu State United Palm Products Ltd’, noted that because “several parties/investors are involved, it became imperative, as is the best international practice, to register a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) as the platform to transact the deal”.

Although the statement did not provide details on the bidding process, Anichukwu maintained that the interest of the state was protected.

The full statement reads:

The Enugu State United Palm Products Ltd., UPPL, is one of the numerous initiatives of the former Premier of the defunct Eastern Region, the late Dr. Michael Okpara, and had lain fallow for decades.

As a government focused on agriculture and agro-industrialisation, UPPL was, expectedly one of the many moribund assets penciled down for revitalisation by Governor Peter Mbah in line with his campaign promise to convert the state’s dormant assets to productive assets and grow the state’s economy exponentially from the current $4.4bn to $30bn through private sector investments. This culminated in the N100bn deal between the Enugu State Government and Pragmatic Palms Ltd., a subsidiary of Diamond Stripes Ltd. on Thursday, May 9, 2024 after months-long negotiation and due diligence that started way back in 2023.

THE N100BN DEAL

Enugu State Government IS NOT releasing N100bn or any dime to Pragmatic Palms Ltd. Instead, Pragmatic Palms Ltd, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the partnership, will finance the revitalisation of UPPL. Pragmatic Palm Ltd. will provide finance for 60 per cent of the transaction value, while the Enugu State Government will provide the plantations valued as 40 per cent equity.

INCORPORATION OF PRAGMATIC PALMS LTD

Because several parties/investors are involved, it became imperative, as is the best international practice, to register a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) as the platform to transact the deal. Pragmatic Palms Ltd. was duly incorporated before the signing of the agreement.

For the avoidance of doubt, however, although it is not the case in this instance, it is apposite to also note that the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020, provides for Pre-incorporation Contract.

Section 96 (1) of CAMA, 2020, provides: “Any contract or other transaction purporting to be entered into by the company or by person on behalf of the company prior to its formation may be ratified by the company after its formation and thereupon the company shall become bound by and entitled to the benefit thereof as if it has been in existence at the date of such contract or other transaction and had been a party thereto.”

CORPORATE GUARANTOR (DIAMOND STRIPES LTD)

As demanded by the Enugu State Government, Pragmatic Palms Ltd. provided a guarantor, which is Diamond Stripes Ltd, a reputable and huge company that has done investments worth over $20bn spanning power and renewable energy sector, port sector, and agricultural sector since 2013. Diamond Stripes Ltd. is the sole investor in Onitsha River Port and has invested heavily in the agricultural sector where it is the largest owner of silo complexes in Nigeria. It was involved in the acquisition of 600MW Shiroro Hydroelectric Power plant in 2013, concessions of 30MW Gurara Hydroelectric Power Plant in 2019, and establishment of 300MW Shiroro solar power project in 2021.

SECURING ENUGU STATE’S INTEREST

The state’s interest in the N100BN UPPL deal is well secured, benefitting from Governor Peter Mbah’s experience as an investment finance expert and an entrepreneur, who has handled multi-billion-dollar projects himself. Besides asking for and getting a corporate guarantor on the part of Pragmatic Palms Ltd, the government also demanded for and got bank guarantors from Pragmatic Palms. Importantly, performance targets and timelines were equally set in the Agreement for Pragmatic Palms Ltd. failing which the Enugu State Government is free to revoke the deal and reassume total ownership of United Palm Products Ltd., UPPL.

In addition, the Enugu State Government is represented on the company’s Board, including the Chairmanship of the Board, as part of the steps taken to secure the state’s interest.

MD’S PROFILE

The MD of Pragmatic Palms Ltd., who is also the MD/CEO of Diamond Stripes, George Nwangwu, is a professor of Project Financing Law, who has led transaction teams that have participated in the consummation of over 100 privatisation or Public Private Partnership (PPP) transactions worth over $20 billion across Africa.

Prof. Nwangwu was the Head of Infrastructure Finance at the Ministry of Finance under the leadership of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, during which he led the team that delivered the Second Niger Bridge deal.

He is a Professor of law at Nile University and an Extraordinary Professor at the Department of Mercantile Law, Stellenbosch University. He was appointed a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar- Rahmani Centre for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School in 2023 as well as an Honorary Senior Research Associate in the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management, University College London since 2022; He is the Director General of the Global Centre for Law and Business, Abuja.

CONCLUSION

Clearly, it is a new dawn for the United Palm Products Ltd. to the benefit of the people of Enugu State after decades of rot and neglect. The partnership is promising and the project in good hands.

Tomorrow is here!

Uche Anichukwu
SSA (External Relations) to the Governor of Enugu State

The Enugu State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has alleged that the Enugu State Government awarded a contract worth N100 billion to inexperienced company.

The party, in a statement on Sunday,, called on Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies to investigate the agriculture partnership agreement recently signed between the Enugu State Government and Pragmatic Farms Limited, alleging that the transaction might be a conduit to siphon the resources of the state.

Enugu LP Chairman, Comrade Casmir Uchenna Agbo, and Publicity Secretary, Onuora Odo, who jointly signed the statement, questioned the propriety of the transaction, pointing out that the company in question was allegedly registered only four days before it signed the agreement with the Enugu government.

The Enugu State Government recently issued a statement, claiming the partnership with Pragmatic Farms Limited was in line with the objectives of the Governor Peter Mbah Administration to revive and convert Enugu State’s dormant assets to productive assets, as part of plans to grow the state’s economy exponentially from $4.4 billion to $30 billion per annum.

the Labour Party, however, in its statement accused the government of planning to use the newly registered company as a conduit to siphon the resources of the state, saying that there was no indication that the company has the track record and capacity to manage the enterprise.

“We are raising this alarm because the entire project smells of large-scale fraud and as a responsible and responsive political party, we owe it to the people of the state, the duty of drawing their attention to what we see as economic rape and corrupt tendencies. Checks at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) have created a cloud of suspicion around the project, following our discovery that Pragmatic Palms Limited was registered only on May 6, 2024, four days before the partnership agreement was signed with the Enugu State Government on May 10, 2024,” the statement said.

The party also demanded that the state, governor, Peter Mba, should tell the people when discussions on this partnership began and how he concluded and signed the deal within four days of incorporating the company.

“It is important to also draw the attention of the people of Enugu State, the Federal Government of Nigeria, and the anticorruption agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to what looks like a grand plan to divert the resources of Enugu State through what looks like a conduit. We say this because further checks reveal that Pragmatic Palms Limited was referenced in the news items as a subsidiary of another company known as Diamond Stripes Limited, a business owned by one Prof George Nwangwu and his wife. How the Enugu State Government decided to trust N100 billion belonging to the over-taxed and deprived people of the state to a glorified sole proprietorship is something that has to be explained.

“Diamond Stripes Limited, it is also worth highlighting, started business in 2013 and has its capacities in the area of hydroelectric generation and port management. Nowhere, on its website was its capacity for agriculture and agro-processing mentioned. More worrisome is the fact that the owner of the company, Prof George Nwangwu has no known track record in agriculture and related areas. We even went further to explore the search engine and the George Nwangwu we were able to find is a professor of Law and has never been involved in anything relating to agriculture before the N100 billion deal he reached with the Government of Enugu State.

“We are worried because a lot of things in the transaction do not appear straightforward. First, by sheer stroke of coincidence, Pragmatic Palms Limited’s registered office located at 5 Kokoma Close, Wuse II, Abuja, appeared in our search to be the same as that of a Law firm, Ratio Legal Practitioners LLP, which also processed the registration of Pragmatic Palms Limited.

“It is also worrisome that although Pragmatic Palms Limited was mentioned in the press release as a subsidiary of Diamond Stripes Limited, there was no indication that Diamond Stripes is a shareholder in Pragmatic Palms Limited. The only shareholder that was returned in the search is a certain George Nwangwu, who curiously owns the entire one million shares of the company.

“We are also worried that while on its website, Diamond Stripes Limited claimed it was in the business of electricity generation, ports services and the building of silos, data on its registration documents at the Corporate Affairs Commission indicated that it was registered “to carry on the business of the manufacturer, importation, exportation, distribution, promotion, sales, supply and marketing of all types of products, materials, agents, reagents and equipment to engage in the business of real estate and property.” The suspicion heightens given that the CAC no longer permits the registration and operation of omnibus businesses in Nigeria.

“We are therefore calling on the good people of Enugu State to be vigilant. We also invite the anticorruption agencies to investigate this transaction with a view to saving the people of Enugu State from what looks like a bogus transaction designed to facilitate the diversion of money belonging to the people”, the party added.