UK Court Adjourns $9bn Suit against FG to February 15

By Ugo Aliogo 

The court hearing on the case between the Federal Government of Nigeria and a British firm, Process and Industrial Development Limited (P and ID) would hold on February 15.

A British firm, Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P and ID) has initiated moves to recover a judgment debt of $6.6 billion in damages plus $2.3 billion in uncollected interest, which is calculated at $1.2 million a day, according to a lead judgment by a London Arbitration Tribunal led by Lord Hoffman.

 The judgment debt arose from Nigeria’s alleged failure to perform its contractual obligations under a gas supply and processing agreement it signed with P and ID.

The judgment sum had snowballed into $9 billion as a result of interest calculated at seven per cent from the date the decision was taken by an arbitration tribunal in the United Kingdom (UK).

According to the UK Tribunal ruling, made available to THISDAY, it was noted that the agreement was executed on January 11, 2010, by P and ID and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources for and on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria to refine associated natural gas (also known as wet gas) into non-associated natural gas to be used by Nigeria in powering its national electric grid.

It also added that the tribunal found that Nigeria had repudiated the agreement by failing to satisfy its contractual obligations and eventually abandoning the project, causing the British firm to lose substantial profits it would have earned over the 20-year period during which Nigeria was to supply the company with natural gas.

Under the agreement, the P and ID project would have generated 3,000 megawatts of electricity for Nigeria.

Also, the natural gas that was being flared off would instead have been processed and used to generate electricity for Nigerians.