Group seeks government’s intervention on ownership of sea truck group

Campaign Against Impunity (CAI), a civil society network of groups and actors working against the reign of impunity in Nigerian public and private sectors, has called on regulators in the oil and gas, and maritime sectors to take urgent actions in protecting the country’s business environment particularly in oil and gas sector, by wading into the unfolding crisis involving the forced liquidation of Sea Truck Group (STG) by some expatriates.

The civil society group made the call at a press conference in Alausa, Ikeja, following its investigation of the battle for ownership of STG, owners and operators of JASCON 25, JASCON 28, JASCON 31 and JASCON 34 vessels.

According to CAI, the conspiracy, which is occurring on a scale capable of destroying confidence in the Nigerian business environment, is driving away the much needed foreign investments in the economy, while also making a mockery of the nation’s justice system due to the condoning of extensive impunity.

Addressing journalists, the group Coordinator, Shina Loremikan, urged critical actors and regulators including Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Nigerian Content and Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB), and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to engage with the facts of the crisis involving STG and its liquidator, while acting in manners that uphold the rule of law and forestalls any arbitrary decision that could jeopardise the interests of STG, which appears the victim and whose hands is being forced in the high-stakes tussle.

He further explained that CAI in its investigation discovered that Justice Chuka Austine Obiozor of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, had the case with suit number FHC/L/CS/1114/2018, filed on August 1, 2018, ordered the parties to maintain status quo pending further order on the matter.

All effort made through email and phone calls by The Guardian to get Telford to state its own side of the story was abortive, as the company did not respond to the mail send to them and neither did they return phone calls.