$9 billion Judgment: Nigeria Will not Surrender Assets to UK Firm – Lai Mohammed

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The Minister for Information, Lai Mohammed, has said that Nigeria will not relinquish assets to a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands following a court ruling related to a $9 billion gas project dispute.

He stated this while addressing journalists alongside the Minister for Finance, Attorney General of the Federation and the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria recently in Abuja.

“The federal government is taking all necessary steps to appeal the decision of the UK Court, to seek a stay of execution of the decision, to defend its rights and to protect the assets of the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

It will be recalled that earlier this month a judge in London granted Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) the right to attempt to seize some $9 billion in assets from the Nigerian government over an aborted gas project.

The $9 billion sum would be one of the largest financial penalties imposed on Nigeria, representing 20 per cent of the currency reserves of Africa’s largest economy and top oil producer.

The company was awarded $6.6 billion in an arbitration decision over a failed project to build a gas processing plant in the southern Nigerian city of Calabar.

The award was based on what the firm could have earned during the 20-year agreement as part of a deal struck in 2010.

The judge’s decision converted the arbitration award to a legal judgment and the sum rose to around $9 billion with interest accrued since 2013.

The Minister of Finance  Hajia Zainab Ahmed said it was an assault to the country and unreasonable; “This award is unreasonable, an assault on every Nigerian and unfair,” while the Attorney general said he believed the contract signed by a previous administration with P&ID, a little-known firm founded by two Irish businessmen specifically for the project, was “designed essentially to fail right from conception”.

He said the agreement with P&ID should have involved international oil companies and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the country’s main gas producer.

The Attorney General who earlier stated that the federal government will prosecute those linked with the deal stated that  “ as a government that has the mandate of the people and their interests at heart, we shall not fold our arms and allow this injustice to go unpunished, as all efforts, actions and step shall be taken to bring to book all private individuals , corporate entities and government officials – home or abroad , past and present , who played direct  and direct roles in the conception, negotiations , signing , formation, as well as prosecution of the purported agreement.

Source: Nigerian NewsDirect