The Federal Government of Nigeria has successfully won its case against Process & Industrial Developments Limited in a United Kingdom court.
This judgment, delivered on Monday, marks the end of over five years of legal battles, which stops the enforcement of an $11 billion payment to P&ID.
Justice Robin Knowles of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales delivered the ruling in favor of Nigeria.
Knowles held that the gas processing contract that led to the big payment was dishonestly obtained.
The P&ID case started with a 2010 agreement where P&ID promised to build a gas processing plant in Nigeria. However, the project never happened, leading to P&ID’s demand for payment.
A private tribunal then ordered Nigeria in 2017 to pay P&ID a colossal $6.6 billion, plus interest dating back to 2013. With interest at seven percent, the total payment had grown to over $11 billion.
This case involved an eight-week trial in London between January and March 2023.
During the trial, Nigeria argued that P&ID had engaged in a lot of bribery and corruption, and key people linked to P&ID had hidden evidence of corruption.
It was also said that P&ID’s lawyers had acted improperly by sharing Nigeria’s confidential documents for their financial gain.
Tinubu lauds judgement
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu commended the UK court’s decision, describing it as a “victory for our long-exploited continent.”
He said the judgment demonstrated that nation-states would no longer be held hostage by private firms and corrupt officials who conspire to exploit and indebt the nations they are supposed to serve and protect.
Tinubu, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said “Today’s victory extended beyond Nigeria and served as a triumph for the entire developing world, which has often been subjected to economic malpractice and exploitation.
“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.”
