By Kingston Magare
Nigerian economist and politician Prof. Pat Utomi said Monday that former Ogun State governor Ibikunle Amosun told a lie when he claimed that he was blacklisted by the Ogun State House of Assembly.
Prof. Utomi had accused Amosun of acting in bad faith in cancelling a contract he signed with the Ogun State government to develop an agricultural project in the State.
Utomi said it was the same treatment Amosun meted to the Chinese firm Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co, which ultimately filed a suit in the UK, US and France claiming a breach of contract. The firm was granted an order to confiscate Nigerian presidential jets and some property belonging to the Federal Government in the Uk and France.
Amosun claimed on Sunday he cancelled Pat Utomi’s contract because he was blacklisted by Ogun government and moreso, he offered to pay a N100m compensation to Utomi, which he rejected.
But speaking on Channels TV Sunrise Daily talk show, Utomi said: “Why would I be blacklisted? I have never had any business with Ogun that would have led them to whitelist not to talk of blacklisting me.
“As a matter of policy, I don’t do business at all with state governments. The only time it would become necessary is when it comes to land matters because the government is the sole authority over land matters in Nigeria.
“Why would the House of Assembly blacklist me? For what? I have never had any business transactions with Ogun State until that time. That is what frightens me why public officials can make such preposterous accusations against me I heard that statement for the first time in my life. If I was blacklisted, for what?”
Utomi said following Amosun’s unguided cancellation of the contracts and those by other State governors it would be hard to attract foreign investments.
“I have been warning about this for a long time. There are many sub-nationals in which the governors act so irresponsibly in the way they get in and out of contracts with foreign organisations bringing great embarrassment to Nigeria.
“A lot of businesses will not come to Nigeria because they think Nigeria’s institutions are not reliable. They think because Nigeria can’t give them justice, and boundaries are not clear.
“Many state governments- a governor leaves, a new one comes, and they riff off everything the governor before him has done without thoughts for the consequences for his state and the country in terms of how seriously the world takes them.
“So when I realised that was what is prevalent, I decided to highlight my personal experience that happened as exactly as the one that led to the seizure of the presidential jets.
“This has happened to a lot of businessmen but because they don’t have the resources to approach the international court for arbitration, they just lick their wounds and let it go.
“It is not just Ogun State. I pointed out that I have a book that was published a few months ago. I published several case studies in the book. One of the cases was exactly what was done in another state in Nigeria that led to a foreign company in South Africa, leaving the country which led to so much loss because the governor decided to play games after he left office.”