The President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has reacted to the recent judgement of a UK Court authorizing Process and Industrial Developments Ltd. (P&ID) to seize 9.6 billion dollars in Nigerian assets, over a contract entered into by the company and Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources in 2010.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in press conference on Monday, disclosed what really transpired and what the Nigerian government is doing to stave off any seizure of its assets.
Mohammed said it became imperative to better inform Nigerians on the whole issue and clear the misrepresentations in certain quarters.
He said, “the judgement that was delivered on Friday, 16 August 2019 is a fallout of the contract purportedly entered into in 2010 between the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and P&ID.
“Please note that in the 20-year Gas Supply Processing Agreement (GSPA) purportedly entered into with the P&ID in 2010, the company never performed as agreed.
“With the contract having suffered a setback, the case went to arbitration. P&ID’s claim in the arbitration proceedings was mainly for the loss of profit for the 20-year term of the GSPA. In an interim award, the Arbitration Tribunal ruled that Nigeria has breached the contract. Though Nigeria successfully applied to have that award set aside by the Federal High Court in Lagos, the Tribunal ignored this decision.
“Consequently, on 31 January 2017, the Tribunal rendered its final award against the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in the sum of 6.597 Billion U.S. Dollars, together with pre-award interest at the rate of 7% per annum, effective from 20 March 2013 and post-award interest a the same rate from the date of the award. This interest increased the size of the award to US$9.6 Billion."
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