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Federal Government Hails UK Court’s Verdict On P&ID

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Niger Republic People Will Defend Me If Nigerians Disturb Me - Buhari Makes Revelation Six Days Before Handing Over

President Muhammadu Buhari led administration has praised the verdict of British court which nulifies the payment of over $9 billion to foreign company.

Recall that in August 2019, a British judge ordered the Nigerian government to pay $9 billion in assets to the firm.

The P&ID had reached a deal with the Nigerian government in 2010 to build a natural gas plant – but the deal fell through two years later. The firm then sued the government for failing to provide the gas or install the pipelines it had promised to build.

The firm was first awarded $6.6bn (£5.4bn) in 2017, but the London court added $2.4bn in interest.

Meanwhile, reacting to the recent verdict  in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Friday, the Presidency welcomed the judgement, adding it had clearly shown that earlier $10 billion judgement debt was an attempt to defraud Nigeria.

“The Presidency welcomes the judgment by the UK Court granting Nigeria’s application for an extension of time and relief from sanctions in a $10 billion arbitration case with Process and Industrious Development Limited (P&ID) in Nigeria.

“In our view, the judgment is right, just and provides a strong prima facie case that the fraudulent gas deal with P&ID and the subsequent judgment debt of $10 billion against Nigeria was a clear attempt to cheat the country of billions of dollars by a company that had not invested one Naira in our country,” the statement said.

It further said the arbitration award is a source of huge satisfaction that the UK Court, among others, had given some of the rulings.

The Presidency, however, expressed delight with the processes that led to the outcome in the English Court, noting it has given relief to Government to further protect Nigeria’s national assets from criminally-minded organisations and individuals.

“The views of the UK court thus provide sufficient grounds for the Federal Government to go ahead and challenge the frauds perpetrated by the company and overturn the arbitration award.

“President Muhammadu Buhari therefore commends the team of lawyers who represented Nigeria in the matter with P&ID, and reassures all well-meaning Nigerians and the international community of his unwavering commitment to fight corruption in all its forms and manifestation,” the statement said.

here is Garba Shehu’s Series of tweets below about Buhari’s reaction to the development