President Bola Tinubu has hailed the judgement of a London court that halted the enforcement of an $11 billion arbitration award against Nigeria in favour of a shadowy firm, Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) Limited.
In a judgement delivered by e-mail on Monday, Judge Robin Knowles of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales quashed the enforcement on the grounds that the award was obtained by fraud.
A private arbitration tribunal had in January 2017 awarded $6.6 billion plus interest accruing from March 2013 in favour of P&ID.
The total sum to be paid by Nigeria amounted to approximately $11 billion.
The president’s reaction was conveyed in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.
“Following Judge Knowles’ dismissal of the $11.5 billion (USD) value of the award plus accumulated interest, previously won by P&ID over a failed 2010 deal to allegedly build a gas processing plant, on the grounds that the award was obtained by fraud, President Tinubu commends the UK Court for prioritizing the merits of the case above all other considerations,” the statement read in part.
The Nigerian president said, “This landmark judgment proves conclusively 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 defense 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.”