A United Kingdom court on Monday halted the enforcement of the $11 billion arbitration award in favour of P&ID against the Nigerian government after over five years of the legal tussle.
In a judgment delivered by email, Robin Knowles, justice of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales, upheld Nigeria’s prayer on the ground that the ill-fated gas processing contract was obtained by fraud.
A private arbitration tribunal had on January 31, 2017 ordered Nigeria to pay $6.6 billion to P&ID plus interest beginning from March 20, 2013.
With the interest rate fixed at seven percent amounting to $1 million a day, the potential payment had accumulated to over $11 billion before the verdict.
In 2010, P&ID entered into an agreement with Nigeria to construct a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River state. However, P&ID alleges that the deal fell apart due to the Nigerian government not fulfilling its obligations.
P&ID sought legal recourse, resulting in an arbitral award against Nigeria. In January 2017, a tribunal ruled that Nigeria should pay P&ID $6.6 billion in damages, along with pre- and post-judgment interest at 7 percent.
Following this judgment, Nigeria applied for an extension of time and relief from sanctions, which was granted by Judge Ross Cranston of the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales in September 2020.
Nigeria countered the gas deal as a fraudulent scheme, claiming that P&ID officials resorted to bribery to secure the contract. However, P&ID vehemently denied these allegations and accused the Nigerian government of propagating “false allegations and wild conspiracy theories.”
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