$9.6bn Award: Civil Society Groups to Occupy British, Irish Embassies

• Global scammers aiming to deplete Nigeria’s rising foreign reserves  
• P&ID: Malami bungled the case

Benneth Oghifo in Lagos and Chuks Okocha in Abuja 

A coalition of civil society groups yesterday announced plans to occupy British and Irish embassies in Abuja for one week, beginning from Monday, September 2, in protest against the $9.6 billion judgment debt against Nigeria over a failed gas contract with British firm, Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID).

Justice Christopher Butcher of a British Commercial Court had affirmed the$6.597 billion (now $9.6 billion) arbitration award against the federal government.

On the same day, the federal government alleged that the $9.6 billion judgment debt was a calculated attempt by international and local scammers to deplete the country’s rising foreign reserves.

Also yesterday, P&ID dismissed alleged attempt by the Buhari government to pin the British court’s judgement debt on former President Goodluck Jonathan, stating that the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami bungled the case against Nigeria..

The Coalition planning the protest against the British and Irish embassies said it is “an umbrella body of over 500 groups in Nigeria.” However, it did not list its members.

In an invite to all members yesterday and signed by its National Secretary, Mallam Ibrahim Abubakar, it said the protest was to demand for the reversal of the judgment against the Nigerian government.

Abubakar said the coalition “is set for the one-week showdown, termed occupy British and Irish embassies”, with fliers and placards already in place.

One of the fliers reads, “$9.6 billion judgement is a fraud. Enough is Enough.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said yesterday that there was an attempt by international scammers to deplete the country’s rising foreign reserves, with the $9.6 billion dubious judgement.

The Minister, during a television programme in Lagos, said: “Anytime the foreign reserves of the country is rising, there is always this attempt by vultures that will come with one scam targeting the reserves.

“It is also important to state here that these international scammers will not have succeeded without the collaboration of the people within.

“That is why the federal government is focusing its searchlight on this particular contract to unravel those behind the move to inflict economic injury on Nigeria and its people,” he said.

Mohammed said the $9.6 billion judgement debt (about N3.5 trillion) translates to 20 per cent of the nation’s foreign reserves.

The minister reiterated that the contract as conceived was designed to fail and there were deliberate efforts to circumvent all the checks and balances to prevent a breach.

Specifically, he said the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, which signed the contract, had no technical knowledge and the capacity and competence to execute a gas contract of such magnitude.

The minister also disclosed that the contract was not approved by the then Federal Executive Council as required by law.

He said when the contract was signed in 2010, there were about seven other gas development projects that were signed about the time that followed due process.

However, Mohammed reassured that the government would leave no stone unturned to ensure that the judgment was set aside, the case resolved and Nigerian assets preserved. 

P&ID: Malami bungled the case

Also yesterday, P&ID dismissed alleged attempt by the Buhari government to pin the British court’s judgement debt on former President, Goodluck Jonathan.

The firm in a statement absolved Jonathan of culpability and blamed President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney General/Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami for the development.

The company, in an attempt to set the record straight, detailed how the Buhari government allegedly slept on the issue and accused Malami in particular of trying to revise history and introducing allegations of contract fraud.

It said: “This week’s series of desperate conspiracy theories point to something deeper: the Buhari administration is refusing to admit its own role in the P&ID case from 2015-2019 after it came into office.

“The Attorney General’s pronouncements in the Nigerian press are a clear attempt to cover up his own incompetence and that of the Buhari administration. This is a matter, which could have been settled shortly after he took office in November 2015 for $850 million. Instead, he personally took the decision to gamble on the arbitration and turned an $850 million liability into a $9.6 billion liability.”