A London Arbitration Tribunal has awarded $8.9 billion fine against Nigeria in favour of a British firm, Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P & ID).
According to documents obtained at the weekend, P & ID had initiated moves to recover a judgment debt of $6.6 billion in damages plus $2.3 billion in uncollected interest, which was calculated at $1.2 million a day, according to a lead judgement by Lord Hoffman.
If Nigeria fails to pay the judgemnt fine before February 15, P&ID can enforce the award against the country by seizing its assets in the United Kingdom (UK).
Reacting to the development, the Director Press, Ministry of Petroleum, Mr Idang Alibi confirmed the financial obligation.
He said both the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Federal Government are aware of the judgment and are doing something about it but gave no further details.
He, however, said the ministry will respond to the matter at the appropriate time.
The fine emanated from the contractual breach of three previous administrations of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.
According to court papers, the judgment debt arose from the country’s failure to perform its contractual obligations under a gas supply and processing agreement it signed with P & ID. The judgment sum had snowballed into $9 billion as a result of interest calculated at seven per cent from the date the decision was reached by an arbitration tribunal in the UK.
According to the UK Tribunal ruling, it was noted that the agreement was executed on January 11, 2010, by P & ID and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources for and on behalf of the Federal Government to refine associated natural gas (also known as wet gas) into non-associated natural gas to be used by Nigeria in powering its national electric grid.
According to court documents, the ruling also stated that the tribunal found that Nigeria had repudiated the agreement by failing to satisfy its contractual obligations and eventually abandoning the project contemplated there under, causing the British firm to lose substantial profits it would have earned over the 20-year period during which Nigeria was to supply the company with natural gas.
Under the agreement, the P&ID project would have generated 3000 megawatts (Mw) of electricity for Nigeria. Natural gas that was being flared off would instead have been processed and used to generate electricity for Nigerians.
Court documents also showed that March 20, 2013, was the date on which P & ID accepted Nigeria’s repudiation of the agreement, however, the Nigeria did not move to set aside the final award at the seat of arbitration, and under English law, the deadline for doing so has long passed.
The failure to accept and secure a settlement has led to saddling Nigeria with over $9 billion of additional debt. According to court documents, earlier efforts to settle the contractual breach had been stalled by the Nigerian government. On May 3, 2015, P&ID offered to settle the dispute with the Nigerian government for $850 million. On May 30, 2015, the matter was brought before President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The government rejected the $850 million settlement which was less than 10 per cent of the current judgment sum.
It was also learnt that at present, there is no idea which Nigeria assets would be affected, as this has not been decided but oil revenues might likely be targeted.
It was learnt that if P & ID is successful at the hearing scheduled for this month, it can enforce the award against Nigeria by seizing her assets in the UK. The tribunal ruling would give the company permission to enforce the award.
The consequences of the judgment will be devastating because Nigeria’s foreign currency reserves is about $43.2 billion which means the P&ID judgment alone will take over 11 per cent of the entire reserves.
The government’s contractual breach related to the supply of an agreed quantities of wet gas at first-150 million standard cubic feet per day (scf/pd), and finally, 400 million scf/pd during the 20-year period of supply while the firm was to strip away the heavy hydrocarbons known as Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) that make wet gas unsuitable for electricity generation and return the lean gas thus created to the country. The refining process was to take place at the gas processing facilities to be built by P & ID on a site in Calabar, the Cross River States capital.
http://thenationonlineng.net/london-arbitration-tribunal-fines-nigeria-8-9b/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

stephanie11:
@POLITICSNGR
https://politicsngr.com/exclusive-pid-fraudulent-shell-company-tried-scam-nigerian-government/

stephanie11:

You can read about us her. If we are not reputable, we won't be on Wikipedia. And we have access and contacts of aides and politicians we reach out to for confirmation of stories.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_Nigeria

Daviddson:
Instead of you to say you copied this from Sahara Reporters, you're saying 'Presidency sources told Politics ngr'. You're not different from our crooked politicians.

Daviddson:
Instead of you to say you copied this from Sahara Reporters, you're saying 'Presidency sources told Politics ngr'. You're not different from our crooked politicians.

It would later emerge that by this time the President was brain-dead and unable to function in any way. It is believed that the late Alhaji Lukman took advantage of the lacuna in the government at this time to perfect the dodgy deal...

richidinho:
When I saw this "The details you are about to read are the outcome of painstaking investigations" I became interested in reading, then I saw this " Presidency sources informed PoliticsNGR"

I was like is this guy mad?

Buhari's presidency source abi? in an election month shey?

I told you guys before propaganda only took you there but can't keep you there beyond May 29

What is now emerging is that this is another case of a dodgy financial arrangement entered into by previous administrations, which the Buhari Administration, which took office in May 2015, is now being forced to deal with and resolve.

This meant that from inception the Agreement was doomed to fail. And it did, shortly afterwards. No gas was ever supplied or processed, as there was nothing in place to make this happen. The deal was simply a racket by senior officials of the Ministries of Petroleum Resources and Justice, under the Yar’Adua/Jonathan Administration, working with an unknown foreign company to milk Nigeria’s resources.

“Can you imagine that neither the NNPC, nor any of its subsidiaries involved in the sale and supply of gas, was aware of this deal.

lola298:
how true is this

Daviddson:
Instead of you to say you copied this from Sahara Reporters, you're saying 'Presidency sources told Politics ngr'. You're not different from our crooked politicians.

stephanie11:
@POLITICSNGR

The real story behind the controversy involving the Nigerian Government and a UK-registered shell Company, Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID) Limited, is finally unfolding. The details you are about to read are the outcome of painstaking investigations that have thrown up some exclusive details.

What is now emerging is that this is another case of a dodgy financial arrangement entered into by previous administrations, which the Buhari Administration, which took office in May 2015, is now being forced to deal with and resolve.

Presidency sources informed PoliticsNGR that the MOU that kickstarted the entire controversy was signed by in July 2009 by the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, the late Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman, purportedly on behalf of the Nigerian Government, and an Irish businessman, Michael Quinn, on behalf of the shadowy British Virgin Islands-registered company, Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID) Limited.

Michael Quinn is said to have made a name for himself in his native Ireland as a successful manager for well-known music bands, between the 1960s and the 1980s. He gave it up to start a new career in the oil business in the early 1980s, becoming an oil trader dealing in Nigerian oil, from his base in Dublin, Ireland

The MOU and subsequent agreement was styled as a ‘Gas Supply and Processing Agreement for Accelerated Gas Development,’ our sources disclosed.

Under the Agreement, P&ID was supposed to receive allocations of natural gas, guaranteed by the Nigerian Government, which it would then process for use for power generation in the country. In the fraudulent arrangement, the Nigerian Government was reportedly saddled with the responsibility of securing gas supplies and ensuring that all infrastructure was in place, in a deal that analysts who spoke to us unanimously agreed was totally skewed against Nigeria, and would not stand up to any serious legal or judicial scrutiny.

An agreement reportedly followed in January 2010, during a period in which the then President Umar Yar’Adua was sick and away from Nigeria, in Saudi Arabia. At the time the ailing President had failed to hand over the reins of power to his Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, and there was a lot of controversy as to who was really running the country. It would later emerge that by this time the President was brain-dead and unable to function in any way.

It is believed that the late Alhaji Lukman took advantage of the lacuna in the government at this time to perfect the dodgy deal, which was reportedly done without the input or knowledge of the NNPC. The IOCs were supposed to supply the gas involved in the deal, but even they were not informed in any way or carried along in the signing of the various agreements.

“Can you imagine that neither the NNPC, nor any of its subsidiaries involved in the sale and supply of gas, was aware of this deal. The IOCs that were supposed to make the gas available, alongside the NNPC, were also not aware. What manner of fraudulent behaviour is that?” a senior official of the Petroleum Ministry queried, when contacted. “Is that done anywhere in the world? The whole agreement was a scam from the beginning, designed to benefit the people who came up with it and took advantage of the illness of Yar’Adua to sign it. If P&ID was a serious company they would never have entered into that kind of agreement in the first place. But we know they are not a serious firm, more like a fraudulent enterprise set up in a tax haven solely for the purpose of exploiting Nigeria in collusion with Nigerians.”

This meant that from inception the Agreement was doomed to fail. And it did, shortly afterwards. No gas was ever supplied or processed, as there was nothing in place to make this happen. The deal was simply a racket by senior officials of the Ministries of Petroleum Resources and Justice, under the Yar’Adua/Jonathan Administration, working with an unknown foreign company to milk Nigeria’s resources.

In 2012 P&ID began Arbitration in the UK, against the Nigerian Government. Their case was premised on a breach of contract, they claimed that Nigeria’s inability to honour the agreement had resulted in grievous financial losses to them.

Liability hearings commenced in July 2015, just as the Buhari Administration was taking office. In the meantime, both Rilwanu Lukman and Michael Quinn, the two signatories to the ill-fated and illegal agreement, had died. Lukman died in July 2014, and Quinn died in February 2015. Both reportedly died of illness.

It is unclear who was pursuing the liability hearings following the deaths of the two principal actors. In January 2017, the Arbitration Court proclaimed a final award of $6.6 billion, plus 7 percent interest per annum, calculated from March 2013, against the Nigerian Government (amounting to in excess of two billion dollars).

Analysts are still wondering how a UK court can award a judgement on the basis of an agreement that was illegal in the first place.

In March 2018, P&ID shopped around for a US District Court in Washington to try and enforce the payment of the judgement awarded against Nigeria, and the Court in June 2018 reportedly affirmed the award, raising suspicions of an unethical collusion and perversion of justice on the part of the US Court.

The Nigerian Government is insisting that there is no cause for alarm, and that the P&ID case is headed nowhere. “This is another of the many shady deals that the previous administrations got Nigeria into, which the Buhari Administration is determined to resolve with no loss to Nigeria,” a Justice Ministry official disclosed. “What P&ID is actually celebrating as a judgement is merely a default entry by a Court Clerk. It’s a joke, let’s be honest. Rest assured President Buhari will not allow even one kobo of Nigeria’s money to fall into the hands of these international fraudsters masquerading as investors. It will never happen, you can take that to the bank.”

https://politicsngr.com/exclusive-pid-fraudulent-shell-company-tried-scam-nigerian-government/

kirajustice:


You are very very sick! In fact seriously crazy for saying that an exclusive story is from sahara reporters.....you are completely mad for this statement

stephanie11:


It is pure wisdom to be quiet when you don't know anything or have the concrete facts of an investigation. Just be quiet and please learn to differentiate assumption from reality. Think well about this.

Nbote:
Lolzzz... Govt doing what dey know how to do best... Deny and divert attention

Omololu001:
Men, Nigerian is really a messed up country.

The solution to Nigeria problems are :-

1) total dissolution (like the USSR)

2) total decentralization (like the UAE)

3) death penalty for civil servants involved in shady deals/corruption ( like China)

But the third solution will still be hard if we don't decentralized. Look at onnoghen case, the people of south south feels their son is been witch hunted so that a Muslim northerner will take over from him.

And why do Nigeria have to listen to all this foreign court in far away Europe and North America I will never forget the day obj agreed to give out bakassi to Cameroon, it's still a shock to me.

But just know that with this present arrangement, Nigeria will never get better.

Daviddson:
Stop lying. No presidency source spoke to your blog. You shouldn't have edited the original article to input your blog's name.