General
Contract Dispute: British Firm Offers FG Olive Branch as Judgment Debt Hits $9bn
Nigeria stands to lose up to $9 billion worth of its foreign assets following an enforcement application to US and UK courts by Process and Industrial Development (P&ID), a British firm tied up in a legal dispute with the Federal Government. The court case arose out of the failure of a contract awarded the company in 2010 to process wet gas to power Nigeria’s generating plants.
In January 2017, a London tribunal, organized under the rules of the Nigeria Arbitration and Conciliation Act, ordered Nigeria to pay P&ID $6 billion in damages, plus $2.3 million in uncollected interest. That figure has since been attracting interest at the rate of $1.2 million per day, and currently stands at over $9 billion.
The next hearing on the case will come up in a London court on Tuesday, May 21, 2019.
Mr. Brendan Cahill, Founder, Process and Industrial Development (P &ID) said that the company looks forward to the UK and US courts granting enforcement rights that will allow P&ID to collect what is rightfully its. “If history is any guide – just look at how creditors seized Argentina’s naval frigate while docked in Ghana. Efforts by Nigeria to evade this judgment will inevitably fall flat. The ball is in Nigeria’s court, if the government is prepared to find a good-faith solution”, he said.
Cahill however indicated that the company was open to negotiations with the Nigerian government to settle the dispute out of court. He said: “P&ID remains open to a settlement on a reasonable basis, but we need a willing partner in government to help resolve this matter. The onus is on the Nigerian government to act in good faith to find a solution”.
After the P&ID’s Gas Supply and Processing Agreement with the Federal Government failed, the company initiated arbitration proceedings in London, in line with the original contractual agreement between the parties.
Cahill said the company decided to go to court after several attempts at salvaging the deal were botched. He said: “P&ID’s Gas Supply and Processing Agreement (GSPA) failed when the government did not uphold its commitments. In August 2012, after several attempts over two and half years by P&ID to salvage the agreement, including offers to renegotiate the deal, the company initiated arbitration proceedings”.
Cahill is sadden by the failure of such a promising project and government’s lack of interest in trying to resolve the dispute amicably, adding that original project would have brought power and economic growth to Nigeria by supplying free natural gas for electricity generation, as well as building a highly successful commercial venture with a share of profits going to the Nigerian government.
“The P&ID project would have supplied 2,000 megawatts of electricity in a country where tens of millions do not have access to electricity. The award judgment was handed down by the independent arbitration panel because it represented the loss of profits for P&ID over the 20 years of the project”, he explained.
In late February this year, the Office of the Attorney-General of Nigeria (AGF) issued a statement contesting the huge amount the court awarded P & ID as damages, largely on the grounds that the project did not actually kick off the ground.
But Cahill reacted to the statement, explaining that the company had already put in years of planning, field work, design and on-the-ground preparation. He stated: “We spent two and a half years offering solutions, while the government consistently failed to deliver its side of the contract. This is a tragic ending to a venture that would have delivered low-cost electrical energy to hundreds of thousands of households throughout Nigeria, and would have brought vital revenue to the Nigerian treasury”.
Cahill and his late partner, Michael Quinn, had over 30 years’ prior experience of executing successful engineering projects in Nigeria before the failed P&ID project that is now in dispute.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Senate on Wednesday passed the bill to amend the Electoral Act of 2022 after delays, which almost pitched the institution against several Nigerians.
Last week, the upper chamber of the National Assembly headed by the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio, set up a panel to look into the matter, with the directive to submit its report yesterday, Tuesday, February 3, 2026.
However, after the report was submitted yesterday, the red chamber of the parliament said it was going to take an action on it on Wednesday.
At the midweek plenary, the Senate eventually passed the Bill for an Act to Repeal the Electoral Act No. 13, 2022 and Enact the Electoral Act, 2025.
However, some critical clauses were rejected, including the proposed amendment to make is mandatory for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmission election results electronically from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
The clause was to strengthen transparency and reduce electoral malpractice through technology-driven result management.
It also rejected a proposed amendment under Clause 47 that would have allowed voters to present electronically-generated voter identification, including a downloadable voter card with a unique QR code, as a valid means of accreditation.
The Senate voted to retain the existing 2022 provisions requiring voters to present their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) for accreditation at polling units, and upheld the provision mandating the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) or any other technological device prescribed by the electoral umpire for voter verification and authentication, rather than allowing alternative digital identification methods as proposed in the new bill.
The Senate also reduced the notice of election from 360 days to 180 days, with the timeline for publishing list of candidates by INEC dropped from 150 days to 60 days.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has completed its timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general election, despite pending amendments to the Electoral Act by the National Assembly.
INEC Chairman, Mr Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during a consultative meeting with civil society organisations.
Mr Amupitan said the commission had already submitted its recommendations and proposed changes to lawmakers, noting that aspects of the election calendar might still be adjusted depending on when the amended Electoral Act is passed.
He, however, stressed that the electoral umpire must continue preparations using the existing legal framework pending the conclusion of the legislative process and presidential assent to the revised law.
According to him, the commission cannot delay critical preparatory activities given the scale and complexity involved in conducting nationwide elections.
The development highlights INEC’s commitment to early planning for the 2027 polls, even as stakeholders await legislative clarity that could shape parts of the electoral process.
Yesterday, the Senate again failed to conclude deliberations on the proposed amendment to the Electoral Act after several hours in a closed-door executive session. The closed session lasted about five hours.
Lawmakers dissolved into the executive session shortly after plenary commenced, to consider the report of an ad hoc committee set up to harmonise senators’ inputs on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
When plenary resumed, the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio, did not disclose details of the discussions on the bill.
Despite repeated executive sessions, the upper chamber has yet to pass the bill, marking the third unsuccessful attempt in two weeks.
The Senate, however, said it will not rush the bill, citing the volume of post-election litigation after the 2023 polls and the need for careful legislative scrutiny.
Last week, the red chamber of the federal parliament constituted a seven-member ad hoc committee after an earlier three-hour executive session to further scrutinise the proposed amendments.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, (REA), Mr Abba Aliyu, is poised to attract an estimated $1.1 billion in additional private-sector investment to further achieve the agency’s targets.
He said that the organisation has received a $750 million funding in 2024 through the World Bank funded Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project.
He added that this capital is specifically intended to act as a springboard to attract an estimated $1.1 billion in additional private-sector investment, with the ultimate goal of providing electricity access to roughly 17.5 million Nigerians through 1,350 new mini grids.
Mr Aliyu also said that the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) has already led to the electrification of 1.1 million households across more than 200 mini grids and the delivery of hybrid power solutions to 15 federal institutions.
According to a statement, this followed Mr Aliyu’s high-level inspection of Vsolaris facilities in Lagos, adding that the visit also served as a platform for the REA to highlight its decentralized electrification strategy, which relies on partnering with firms capable of managing local assembly and highefficiency project execution.
The federal government, through the REA, underscored the critical role the partnership with the private sector plays in achieving Nigeria’s ambitious off-grid energy targets and ending energy poverty.
Mr Aliyu emphasized that while public funds serve as a catalyst, the long-term sustainability of Nigeria’s power sector rests on credible private developers who are willing to invest their own resources.
He noted that public funds are intentionally deployed as catalytic grants to ensure that the private sector maintains skin in the game which he believes is the only way to guarantee true accountability and the survival of these projects over time.
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