Date: 2012-06-04

A human rights group, Lawyers Unite against Corruption (LUC), has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the N70 billion rice project of the Kwara State Government, which was allegedly contracted to a Spanish company, Vasolar Consortium.

The convener of LUC, Mr. Ikechukwu Ikeji, alleged that they decided to raise the alarm and arouse public interest in the rice project described as a deceptive scheme deliberately conceived by the present administration to siphon public funds.

Ikeji alleged that when reporters confronted the state government about the company which it claimed would be injecting about 340 million Euros into the rice project, it dismissed the allegations as inconsequential.

He alleged that all the searches conducted on Vasolar Consortium of Spain revealed that the company, which claimed to be based in a non-rice producing country, had no local recognition as it was not known to the Spanish Chamber of Commerce and had no experience in rice cultivation, adding that "its only known existence is through this deal with the Kwara State Government."

Ikeji said: "This is a big surprise for a company planning to invest 340 million Euros in four years. Who are the partners in Vasolar Consortium of Spain? What are their pedigrees? What is the source of the resources they are bringing in? 

"We have conducted a search at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on the name and directors of Vasolar Consortium. The name was not found both online and manually. The implication is that Vasolar Consortium does not exist in the records of CAC. Meaning, it is a non-existent company or is not registered to do business in Nigeria either by way of being incorporated or by way of exemption under Section 56 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 (CAMA)."

The convener of the LUV challenged the government to provide incontrovertible evidence of where the company has carried out "this type of project before in any part of the world," adding that "if there are none, it then follows that you cannot give what you don’t have. If the company is non-existent, the government is trying to place something on nothing, which to all intent and purpose is practically impossible."

LUC raised questions on the economies of the business proposal of Vasolar Consortium, saying when the cost of land and the amount in the escrow account are added, "the total investment by the Kwara State Government is more than equal to what the consortium is purportedly bringing in. 

"Hence it can be safely assumed that Vasolar is just going to use Kwara State’s money- that is if there is any actual production to be undertaken."

Ikeji cited the case of Lagos State Government which is going to take 10 per cent equity for providing land for a green field refinery in the EPZ, explaining that "this means whenever the project takes off and profit is being made, Lagos will be making lots of revenues through Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and profit sharing without tying down money that can be used to enhance the lives of the people."

In the case of Kwara, he alleged that the financial returns to the government for the enourmous investment was not stated, adding, " what is the equity of Kwara State Government in this transaction? Or is the government not expecting any form of return within a definite time frame? Is this organisation, Vasolar Consortium, not making any profit too?"

Quoting the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the rights group said while Nigeria is ranked the 19th producer of rice worldwide, Spain is not ranked at all. 

The group alleged on the possibility that there is a plan to use a new generation bank involved in the project as a medium for money laundering and asked the EFCC to evaluate and investigate the exact  interest of the bank in the entire transaction.