Nigeria govt wants UK court to overturn $11bn judgement debt

The Nigerian government has asked the London High Court to rule on the controversial Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) gas deal.

The government in closing arguments at the hearing earlier this week asked the court to vacate the arbitration award for P&ID which has now accrued $11 billion in interest.

The company claimed to have signed an agreement with Nigeria to build a gas processing plant but the deal collapsed because the Nigerian government did not finalize the deal.

But Nigeria’s lawyer, Mark Howard, told the court that P&ID got the contract “by lying repeatedly and paying bribes to officials.”

Mr. Howard said the company had financially affected Nigerian government officials including the chairman of the government’s technical committee reviewing gas plant contracts and several others.

He also said that lawyers on the Nigerian team during the arbitration process were bribed.

The background

The P&ID controversy began in January 2010 when the company signed a gas supply and processing agreement with Ministry of Petroleum Resources on behalf of the Nigerian government.

Under the terms of the agreement, P&ID will construct and operate the Accelerated Gas Development project to be located at Adiabo in Odukpani Local Government Area of ​​Cross River State. The Nigerian government to source natural gas from oil mining leases (OMLs) 123 and 67 operated by Addax Petroleum and sources for P&ID to refine it into fuel suitable for power generation in the country.

However, P&ID stated that after signing the agreement, the Nigerian government reneged on its obligations after negotiations were opened with the Cross River State government for the allocation of land for the project.

He added that efforts to settle the case with the Nigerian government have failed.

trials

In its arguments, the Nigerian government said there were “pictures of bribery and corruption on an industrial scale” regarding the contract.

“This is not an accidental small contract. This is fundamental to the way P&ID does business,” the Nigerian lawyer said.

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He added that the company has real-time access to Nigeria’s “special ingredients”, many of which are obtained through “back channels”.

The Nigerian government accused the company of suppressing important evidence, bribery, and perjury to win the arbitration.

Two lawyers who acted for P&ID in the arbitration process, Trevor Burke and Seamus Andrew, were also accused of breaching their duty to the court by ignoring evidence of their client’s corruption.

“Like the corrupt officials and FRN’s legal counsel, Mr Andrew and Mr Burke’s integrity has also been compromised,” Mr Howard said.

“He was offered money that could change his life, depending on the success of the claim, which led him to see clear evidence of corruption (most clearly in the form of the FRN privilege document) in the hope of reaching the promised pot of gold. . He did it by sacrificing his obligations professional.