The UK Business and Property Court has fixed Monday, October 23, to deliver judgement in an $11 billion case instituted by Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) Ltd against the Federal Government of Nigeria.
In the crux of the case which dates back to 2010, P&ID had entered into an agreement with Nigeria to build a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River State, but the deal, according to the company, collapsed because the Nigerian government failed to fulfill its own end of the bargain.
The break in the agreement forced the company to drag the Nigerian government to court over the alleged breach of contract, and sought an arbitral award against the country.
In 2017, a tribunal in the UK had ruled that Nigeria should pay P&ID the sum of $6.6 billion as damages, as well as pre-and post-judgment interest at 7 percent.
In a counter suit, the FG applied for an extension of time and relief from sanctions which was granted by the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, in September 2020, with the excuse that the gas deal was a scam conceived to defraud the country.
P&ID denied the allegation and accused the Nigerian government of false allegations and conspiracy theories so as to avoid payment imposed on it.