Nigeria could still escape $9.6bn P&ID award — if $200m is deposited in 60 days

A British court says Nigeria can challenge the $9.6 billion awarded in the case with Process & Industrial Development (P&ID) if it deposits $200 million within the next 60 days.

TheCable understands that the court granted Nigeria a stay of execution of the arbitral award on Thursday.

Nigeria had asked for permission to appeal against the enforcement of the judgement which has been granted.

It also asked for a stay of execution of the arbitral award and this has been granted with the condition that $200 million be deposited within 60 days.

Christopher Butcher, a justice of the Commercial Court in London, also ruled that Nigeria must pay $250,000 to the Irish engineering company as its running costs within 14 days.

Butcher said the company has the right to seize Nigerian assets if any of the deadlines are missed.

The judge said he based his decision on the “real risk that Nigeria’s assets will not be returned in the event that the appeal is successful and would be lost to the government and to the people of Nigeria”.

He added that there was a risk of serious and potentially irreparable damage should P&ID decide to use third-party agents to monetise and stash away the assets seized pending an appeal.

Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), led a delegation of senior government officials to the UK to seek a legal solution to the matter on Sunday.

This was after building up a case against P&ID in Nigeria. A federal high court in Abuja convicted representatives of the company of economic sabotage and ordered the forfeiture of assets linked to the firm.

Addressing world leaders at the ongoing United Nations general assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari had described the P&ID contract as a scam “attempting to cheat Nigeria”.