Joseph Ushigiale
24 October 2009
Lagos — There are indications that the Federal Government through the Nigeria/ Chad Joint Commission is set to intervene in the prolonged case of 62 indigenously owned trucks seized by some influential Chadian businessmen since 2002
Confirming the federal government's resolve to intervene in the matter which has lasted for over seven years, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ayo Olukanni told THISDAY that the ministry, through its consular services department is stepping up efforts towards ensuring that the prolonged agony of the truck owners is eventually ended.
He stated that "the ministry is initiating a meeting at the level of the Nigeria/Chad Joint Commission to resolve these issues. I can assure you we have planned a meeting for a fortnight from now where the issue of the 62 trucks will top the agenda of this discussion and we are hoping to make a significant in-road through the commission."
Olukanni said "up till date, the minister directed the consular department to liaise with the Chadian Ambassador and find out the true position of things concerning the trucks. The Chadian Ambassador has briefed the ministry that he has briefed his home government and further progress is being hampered by the political impasse that currently reigns in the country."
He gave the assurance that reprieve would eventually come the way of the truck owners in the same vein the ministry utilized the Nigeria/Nigerien Joint Commission to secure payment for a Nigerian businessman whose payment for a contract he executed was refused him for several years.
It would be recalled that THISDAY had reported few months ago the continued plight of the truck owners, whose fight for the return of their trucks and compensation in a haulage contract brokered by the Nigerian Embassy in Ndjamena but gone awry since 2002 has remained largely an illusion.
The report was said to have provoked the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Madueke who reportedly directed the director of consular service at the ministry to liaise with the Chadian Chancery in Nigeria to resolve the matter amicably.
The trucker owners, writing under the Ralph Enterprises Group, in a petition signed by Ralph Oragwu, Sabo Haruna and Mohammed Dili to President Umaru Yar'Adua through the Minister of Foreign Affairs in August stated their predicament started when the Nigerian Embassy invited them to participate in a haulage business with come Chadian businessmen believed to be highly connected to the power base in that country.
According to them, "the haulage contract which involved our group mobilizing 62 trucks for the haulage of pipes from Cameroun to Chad for Willbros was signed between us and the Chadians and endorsed by our embassy in Ndjamena."
The group implored YarÁdua to cause the Chadian authorities, which has an established reputation of not upholding international agreements, to return 62 trucks forcibly taken away from it and full compensation amounting to a little over a billion naira or in the alternative urged the federal government to compassionately underwrite the transaction in the interest of the numerous truck owners whose personal and family lives have been ruined on account of the botched transaction.
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