A UK Court has approved the request of the Nigerian government to suspend execution of the seizure of assets belonging to the government by P&ID. The oil-rich country is making frantic effort to overturn a court decision that would see it lose a quarter of its foreign reserves to the British firm, which sought legal redress after the country failed to meet its end of an agreement that would have seen improved delivery of power to millions of Nigerians. The contractual agreement was reached back in 2010.
However, the Nigerian government is expected to deposit $200 million to the UK court as a prerequisite for the appeal as ruled by the court, in what could be viewed as a chance to fight and overturn the judgment.
The company reacted to the new development in a statement on its website, saying:
“The Court has ruled that the Nigerian Government must put up $200 million to maintain a stay of execution whilst it pursues an appeal against enforcement of the now $9.6 billion award in favor of P&ID. The Nigerian Government will now have to put its money where its mouth is if it wants to avoid immediate seizure of assets.
“The Nigerian Government’s recent media exercise to allege fraud against P&ID turned out to be a red herring. Indeed, the Nigerian Government did not present any evidence to support Attorney General Malami’s “findings” from his sham investigation. The Nigerian Government knows there was no fraud and the allegations are merely political theater designed to deflect attention from its own shortcomings.”
The federal government is expected to pay the $200 million within 60 days.
