P&ID $11bn Award: Tinubu Hails Nigeria’s Victory at UK Court

By Bliss Okperan

President Bola Tinubu has praised the judgement given by Judge Robin Knowles of the Business and Property Court in London, awarding victory to the Federal Government of Nigeria over Process & Industry Development (P&ID) Limited.

Mr Tinubu, on Monday, reacting to Judge Knowles’ dismissal of the $11.5 billion award plus accumulated interest, previously won by P&ID over a failed 2010 deal for a gas processing plant, on the grounds that the award was obtained by fraud, praised the UK Court for prioritizing the merits of the case above all other considerations.

Recall that P&ID, a firm based in the British Virgin Islands, won a $9.6 billion arbitration award against the Nigerian government after the collapse of a 2010 gas project.

President Tinubu in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, said, “This landmark judgment proves conclusively that nation-states will no longer be held hostage by economic conspiracies between private firms and solitarily corrupt officials who conspire to extort and in debt the very nations they swear to defend and protect.

“Today’s victory is not for Nigeria alone. It is a victory for our long-exploited continent and for the developing world at large, which has for too long been on the receiving end of unjust economic malpractice and overt exploitation.

“Nigeria is appreciative of the tremendous efforts of the defence team and acknowledges the role of the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Attorney-General in the process of defending Nigeria’s interest in this case.”

Business Post reports that P&ID agreed with Nigeria in 2010 to build a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River State, but the company said the deal collapsed because the Nigerian Government did not fulfil its end of the bargain.

P&ID claimed Nigeria breached the terms of the contract, P&ID took a legal recourse and secured an arbitral award against the country.

On January 31, 2017, a tribunal ruled that Nigeria should pay P&ID $6.6 billion as damages, as well as pre-and post-judgement interest at seven per cost.

Nigeria applied for an extension of time and relief from sanctions and over the years, the penalty had accumulated to $11 billion.