The Federal Government has called on state governments to always get them involved when entering into foreign or international negotiations.
The warning followed the much-talked-about seizure of three presidential jets belonging to the federal government by Zhongshanu Fucheng Limited on the orders of a French court.
It came to that after UK Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Chinese company awarding it $74.5m in damages against Ogun State over the latter’s revocation of management of the export processing zone contract it allegedly gave the company.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has now said, going forward the 36 states should endeavour to let the federal government in on such negotiations in order to avert similar problems.
This was conveyed through a statement the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar issued.
It reads in part, “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.”
