President Bola Tinubu has hailed the judgement of the Business and Property Court in London quashing an over five-year litigation against Nigeria by Process & Industrial Development Limited on an alleged illegal gas process deal.
Tinubu in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, commended the UK Court for prioritising the merits of the case above all other considerations.
He said: “This landmark judgment proves that nation-states will no longer be held hostage by economic conspiracies between private firms and solitarily corrupt officials who conspire to extort and indebt the very nations they swear to defend and protect.
“Today’s victory is not for Nigeria alone. It is a victory for our long-exploited continent and for the developing world at large, which has for too long been on the receiving end of unjust economic malpractice and overt exploitation.
“Nigeria is appreciative of the tremendous efforts of the defence team and acknowledges the role of the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Attorney-General in the process of defending Nigeria’s interest in this case.”
The case dates back to a 2010 agreement when P&ID pledged to build a gas processing plant in Nigeria.
However, the project never succeeded, leading P&ID to sue Nigeria for lost profits. The firm was granted the sizable award plus accumulated interest, which has since been a point of contention.
P&ID however, approached the court, seeking the enforcement of an earlier $11.5 billion arbitration award, which it obtained in 2017 from a private arbitration tribunal.
The judgement was earlier favourable to the company however, delivered, on Monday, October 23, by Judge Robin Knowles of the Business and Property Court, who quashed the claims by P&ID because the initial judgment was obtained by fraud.
