BEVERLY HILLS, October 19, (THEWILL) – The founder and majority shareholder of Intels Nigeria Limited, Mr. Gabriele Volpi, has apologised to the federal government and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) over the spat that led to the termination of the Pilotage Agency Agreement between his company and NPA.
Speaking to THISDAY, Volpi, who holds dual Italian and Nigerian citizenship, said he was not involved in the negotiations between his firm and NPA over the disagreement on the pilotage agreement but was apologetic for the misunderstanding that had taken place.
He also resolved to ensure that Intels undertakes a reconciliation process with the NPA and transfers all the revenue collected from the boats monitoring and supervision services in Nigerian maritime waters to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in compliance with the policy of the federal government.
“We want to apologise to the federal government and NPA over this disagreement with Intels. I was not personally involved in the negotiations with NPA, but we apologise for what has happened,” he said.
“We intend to comply with the directive of government and transfer all the revenue to the TSA because we are a law-abiding company.
“We are committed to co-operating with the government and NPA in the development of Nigeria’s maritime sector and this includes the Badagry deep seaport.
“The Badagry deep seaport is a massive undertaking which will cost billions of dollars and will be the biggest in Africa and would turn Nigeria into a regional hub for ships bringing goods to the continent.
“It will also help to move a lot of shipping activities at the Apapa and Tin-can Island ports and help to decongest Apapa, so we are serious about our investments in Nigeria.”
Intels and NPA have been engaged in a war of words since the termination of the pilotage agreement by the latter over what NPA had said was its refusal to remit the revenue accruable from the pilotage services to the TSA.
The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), had written to Bala-Usman on September 27, directing her to terminate the pilotage agreement on the grounds that the contract was illegal ab initio.
Malami in the said letter had stated that the agreement which had allowed Intels to receive revenue on behalf of NPA for seven years, was in contravention of the Nigerian Constitution, especially in view of the implementation of the TSA policy of the government.
THEWILL recalls that the recent travails of Intels has been linked to the 2019 presidential ambition of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who is said to have stakes in the oil and gas logistics firm with operations in Onne, Rivers State, Warri, Delta State and Lagos.
However, THISDAY revealed that until recently, the former vice-president held a 17.2 per cent stake in Intels, which he whittled down after he sold part of his stake to former Lagos State governor and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu.
“It is often erroneously reported in the media that Intels belongs to Atiku Abubakar. But he has always been a minority shareholder in the company. Until recently, he had a 17.2 per cent stake in Intels, but even that was whittled down when he sold part of his stake to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,” explained a company source recently.
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