Social media spins of Abia State winning major arbitration against Enyimba Economic City promoters, N400 million recovery and accountability triumph

It has become necessary for us to provide rebuttal and put the record straight on the various rulings on the Arbitral Dispute between us and Abia State Government.

This is so this time because we have received close to 200 enquiries through calls, emails, WhatsApp etc. on the information Abia State Government social media warriors have put out on the matter.

Before now, we have desisted/resisted war of words with Abia State Government on social media on the matter. These enquiries cut across from well-meaning individuals all over the world who are familiar with the subject matter of the dispute, investors locally and internationally, our partners and various development institutions connected with the subject matter project.

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Besides we have processed Approval in Principle from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to submit a proposal to it towards raising money from the public for the subject project.

Brief Background

Enyimba Economic City is a PPP project of Crown Realties Plc, Abia State Government and Federal Government of Nigeria conceived under the Made in Nigeria for Export (MINE)/Economic Recovery and Growth Program (ERGP) of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.

It consists of 9,803 Hectares of greenfield vibrant integrated city, planned to be “The Strategic Global Business Hub in Africa”, a Special Economic Zone with growth sectors in Manufacturing, Logistics, Healthcare, Entertainment, Education, Innovation and Technology Hub, Commercial, Lifestyle Residential and Aviation.

The economic positioning was carried out by Coldwell Banker Richard and Ellis (CBRE) and Master Plan produced by Surbana Jurong Pte Ltd of Singapore. The project garnered the support of development institutions that included African Development Bank (AfDB), World Bank through International Finance Corporation (IFC) and African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank).

It is noteworthy that the project won the first prize of Business Plan of new cities coming up in the world in 2019 of Charter Cities Institute, Washington DC beating Blackstone Charter City in Australia to second prize and Novgorod New Hanse Town in Russia to third prize. The award included a cash prize of $25,000.00. The project is projected by CBRE to provide 625,000 direct jobs.

Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) granted the Special Economic/Free Zone status to the project in September 2018 and it received Development and Municipal Management Licences from NEPZA on August 10, 2020 and October 08, 2020 respectively.

Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry on Justice published a gazette on the project, official Gazette N0. 99 Vol. 107 Government Notice 81 2022.

By December 2022, the last Audited Account by the Auditors BDO Professional Services, (international network of accounting, tax and advisory firm) we had spent ₦11,120,752,532 in project development, preparation, and financing costs. If we add 3 years of unaudited accounts, the expenditure profile is more than 15 Billion Naira. Note, that the expenditure on the project started in 2017 when exchange rate was averagely ₦305/$1, meaning that in real money value today, our commitment on the project will be in excess of 50 Billion Naira.

It took us 3 years from 2020 to December 2023 to process a $201.7 Million debt on the project from Afreximbank at close to $1million Costs, $470,000 Due Diligence (Legal, Financial, Environmental, Technical etc. and $310,000 for Legal Documentation upon approval of the loan from the Board of Afreximbank, flight tickets, hotels, incidental expenses etc. By the time we completed the documentation and nominated the EPC, CCECC Nigeria Limited and completed negotiation for a construction contract, a new Government led by Dr. Alex Otti came into power in May 2023, in Abia State.

When we received a tip that the Governor was determined to abort the project by siting his Abia Integrated and Innovation Park (AIIP) on part of the land in Owaza area, we sought and received appointment to meet with the Governor. The meeting turned out to be a very hostile one in which the Governor threatened to withdraw the Certificate of Occupancy issued by Abia State Government on the project in 2017, if we fail to surrender 1,000 hectares of land of the project to Abia State.

We tried to bring to the attention of the Governor that the city is a Special Economic Zone regulated by NEPZA and approved by Federal Executive Council and published in a gazette, for which we will run foul of the law to either increase or decrease its size. When we were certain that the government will not listen to our argument, we wrote to NEPZA to allow us to surrender the 1,000 hectares of land to Abia State Government.

NEPZA wrote us back to intimate us that that will entail surrender of our existing Development and Operating Licenses which took over 3 years to process and $600,000 fees paid to Federal Government ($500,000 Development and $100,000 Operating Licences respectively). In addition, NEPZA required us to submit a new feasibility study and master plan for the reduced territory. The initial study and master plan took $1.2 million to produce between CBRE and Surbana Jurong Pte Ltd. To assuage Abia State Government we offered to release the 1,000 hectares of land to them under sublease from Enyimba Economic City, as we will still be protected under the law once the 1,000 hectares is not under a separate Certificate of Occupancy.

Abia State Government refused and severed communication with us. We went to the greatest extent to elicit the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians to appeal to the Governor including His Royal Majesty, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe CFR, President General Ohanaeze Ndigbo at the time, Dr. Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, General Ike Nwachukwu, Chief Arthur Eze and President Olusegun Obasanjo.

When all the entreaties failed, we activated the Arbitration Clause contained in our PPP Agreement with Abia State dated January 27, 2017 and declared dispute on March 05, 2024.

Abia State Government employed all tricks in the books to frustrate and delay the Arbitration process including smuggling in parties into the dispute that were not part of the Agreement, change of Counsels, adjournment etc. etc.

In the end the Arbitral process was concluded on August 15, 2025 and sadly the Tribunal did not rule on the dispute till February 13, 2026, almost 2 years after. The fact is that there are two rulings: Majority Ruling by two members of the Tribunal and Dissenting Ruling by one member.

However, the kernel or core of the dispute is whether the Abia State Government has the power(s) to withdraw the Certificate of Occupancy of Enyimba Economic City issued by previous administration of the State by overriding the powers of NEPZA, Federal Government of Nigeria, its own law and decided cases. The unequivocal rulings of both the Majority and Dissenting Ruling are CAPITAL NO. Therefore, the threatened withdrawal of the Certificate of Occupancy of Enyimba Economic City by Abia State Government and attempted seizure of 929.87 hectares of land of Enyimba Economic City are declared unlawful, null and void by both the Majority and Dissenting rulings. This fact, therefore, is beyond spinning and we urge our partners, investors, locally and internationally to take these as the true position of the outcome of the Arbitration between us and Abia State Government.

Of course, Abia State Government paid 400 million Naira out of 3 Billion Naira of their 6% share of 50 Billion Naira capitalization of the project company, Enyimba Economic City Development Company FZE. At no time did we deny that, at no time did Abia State Government ask for refund or repudiation of its investment in the project, nor did the Government plead the refund in their amended Statement of Defense and Counter Claims of September 25, 2024.

It is a notorious fact that Abia State Government was represented on the Board of the project from day one by Mr Chinenye Nwaogu. The then Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu attended all major engagements on the project locally and internationally including more than 3 trips to China, 2 trips to Dubai Ports, World for meetings, 3 trips to Afreximbank in Egypt etc. with us.

By what the Majority Ruling described as “Resulting Trust Theory” in law, it ordered us to refund the 400 million Naira deposit made on Abia State Government shares of 3 Billion Naira to the Government. That particular order with the other unbelievable inconsistences of the Majority Ruling, we have referred to our Counsels. It is noteworthy however, that the Dissenting Ruling dismissed that order and all other inconsistencies and awarded us damages of 15 Billion Naira of the $50 Million we requested for, considering the investment we have made on the project starting from 2017, interest payments on investment and loss of income for which our Expert Witness calculated and defended at the Tribunal at $501.580 million for which Abia State Government did not dispute.

In conclusion, we restate that we have all along avoided engaging Abia State Government on war of words on social media on the project because we had hoped that by some miracle that Abia State Government may one day see us as partners in progress and realize that our efforts are laudable and geared towards the growth of the state, the Region and the Nation. Besides, we initially considered ourselves possibly an unfair victim of lack of love between current Abia State Government and its predecessor.

In closing, we believe that in the end, justice will prevail.

Signed

C Darl Uzu

Enyimba Economic City Development Company FZE