THE Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, has said sub-national actors, including state governments, should not enter foreign or international negotiations without the input of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Federal Government.
Recall that a Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment, had dragged Nigeria before a court in Paris, France, over its feud with the Ogun State Government, which it accused of breaching a contractural agreement, leading to the seizure of three presidential jets abroad belonging to the Federal Government.
The court had ruled that Zhongshan should use Nigeria’s jets at the Paris-Le Bourget and Basel-Mulhouse International Airports as “security for its claim of EUR 74,459,221.”
In his reaction to the feud and seizure of the jets, as well as efforts being made to resolve the dispute, Tuggar said: “Yes, the attorney general and I are working on it, both diplomatically and then from legal perspective as well to ensure that this issue is resolved.
“This is part of the problem when sub-national actors, like state governments, take it upon themselves to go into agreements, go into international arrangements without recourse to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, without recourse to the Federal Government, and then when it goes awry, we are left with the problem to deal with.
“That is why it is always important that such arrangements should be registered with the mission there, with the embassy, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with the Federal Government.
“This is something that Ogun State, under a different administration, not this governor, entered into that, we’re not aware of. All we know is that they’re going after Nigerian assets.
“That’s why, really, foreign or international negotiations are not the purview of sub-national actors. You should always have those that are experienced in such an area that have the necessary skills and the necessary training to negotiate these sorts of agreements.”
