UK Court Grants Nigeria Leave To Appeal $9.6bn Judgment …Asks FG To Pay $200m For Stay Of Execution

A United Kingdom Commercial and Arbitration Court, yesterday, granted the Nigerian Government leave to appeal against the award and enforcement of the judgment that asked Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID), to seize $9.6billion in Nigerian assets.
The court also considered and granted the application for stay of execution, and ordered the Federal Government to deposit the sum of $200million as security while the appeal is heard.
Nigeria’s Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who is the leader of the Nigerian legal team in London, confirmed the development, yesterday.
Malami; the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu; and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele; had last Saturday led a delegation to the United Kingdom for the epic legal battle with P&ID.
Other government officials that were part of the trip included the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu.
The court had on August 16 affirmed the ruling of a London arbitration tribunal, which, in January, 2017, awarded $6.6billion arbitral award against Nigeria over an alleged breach of a gas supply and processing agreement signed with P&ID in 2009.
The tribunal had ruled that Nigeria was liable for $6.6billion in damages, which increased to about $9.6billion with accruing interest.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, on August 26, described the judgment as an assault on all Nigerians.
She had said it was important for all Nigerians to rise up to the task of ensuring that the nation and its citizens were not unfairly treated on the matter.
The minister had said, “This matter that has brought us here today is a very weighty one. An award of $9.6billion is equivalent to N3.5trillion. N3.5trillion in our annual budget will be covering for us the personnel cost, which is about N3.2trillion and more. So, this award is unreasonable, excessive and exorbitant.”
Meanwhile, Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID) has reacted to the ruling of the United Kingdom Commercial and Arbitration Court which, yesterday, in London, ordered a stay of execution of the $9.6billion damages awarded against Nigeria pending the determination of an appeal by the Nigerian Government.
The court had asked the government to make a security payment of $200million to it, while also granting Nigeria’s leave to file an appeal against the award.
However, P&ID, in a statement, yesterday, said it welcomed the ruling that required that Nigeria must pay $200million before proceeding with the appeal.
“The court has ruled that the Nigerian Government must put up $200million to maintain a stay of execution whilst it pursues an appeal against enforcement of the now $9.6billion award in favor of P&ID.
The tribunal had ruled that Nigeria was liable for $6.6billion in damages, which increased to about $9.6billion with accruing interest.
The English Commercial and Arbitration ordered a stay of execution of the $9.6billion damages secured against Nigeria by Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID) pending the determination of an appeal by the Federal Government.
It, however, asked the government to make a security payment of $200million to the court.
The court also granted Nigeria’s leave to file an appeal against the award.