P&ID AWARD: Nigerian govt agrees to pay $200m security deposit

The Federal Government has finally agreed to pay the security deposit ordered by Justice Christopher Butcher of the Commercial Court in London for a stay of execution of the judgement handed down in the dispute between it and a firm, Process and Industrial Development (P&ID), the firm said in a statement on Saturday.

Nigeria is appealing the judgement of an arbitration panel which awarded the payment of $9.6 billion in damages against the country and in favour of the company.

P&ID made this known in a statement issued by Chris Rogers, the Associate Director, In-House, London, the media firm that represents P&ID, .

He said, “Before Justice Butcher today (Friday) in London, the Nigerian legal team acknowledged that President Buhari has authorised the steps to provide a bank guarantee for the $200m in security that was ordered by the English Court in September.

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“Moreover, the following steps have already been taken by the Nigerian Government: Ministry of Finance has received approval to proceed with obtaining the bank guarantee; Minister of Finance has submitted a request to the Central Bank of Nigeria to proceed with procuring the bank guarantee; the Central Bank of Nigeria has submitted a request to an unnamed foreign correspondent bank to issue the bank guarantee from London and provide the relevant information to the court”, the statement reads in part.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, had last week confirmed that the Federal Government had filed the appeal, this, the P&ID statement said has failed.

The company further stated: “The eleventh-hour gambit by Nigeria’s Attorney General Abubakar Malami to avoid paying the $200m in security to the English Court on November 25 has failed.

“This is a major milestone and P&ID welcomes the outcome of today’s hearing in London. P&ID expresses hope that the Buhari administration will now accept the reality of the Arbitration Tribunal Award and the decision of the English Court – and end the ridiculous sham investigation and show trials conducted by the EFCC (Economic Financial Crimes Commission) in recent months.

“AGF Malami presented a witness statement that is neither credible nor believable and it impugns both the English court and the Arbitration proceedings chaired by Lord Leonard Hoffman. The ‘evidence’ cited by Malami and others is based purely and exclusively on a government-sanctioned campaign of harassment, intimidation and illegal detention of a number of individuals associated with P&ID or the GSPA contract. AG Malami’s campaign has been nothing more than a blatant perversion of justice and the rule of law.”

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