The Federal government has been urged to set up a high-level crises response team made up of Central bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and Ministry of justice, in response to Nigeria’s major loss at a British court on Friday over $9 billion damages for failing to honour a contract.

According to stakeholders familiar with Nigeria’s economic situation, the aim of the high-level response team is to calm the nerve of foreign investors, as Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) who won the judgement in London, might resort to going after Nigeria’s Eurobond custodian; a development which could have a devastating blow to the credit rating of the country, derail the 2018 budget and plunge the economy back into recession.

According to sources, government agencies such as CBN, NNPC and ministry of justice needs to speak with one voice and calm foreign investors who are currently jittery about the current development and also reassure them they are taking the right steps to resolve the matter as $9 billion still under the government’s control in respects to Nigeria’s total assets.

Sources tell BusinessDay that the situation in Nigeria is not new as it is similar to what happenned in Republic of Congo in 2017, which had a sovereign debt default after the latest coupon payment on its $363 million Eurobond was frozen amid a decades-old legal dispute over a $1 billion debt to a local construction company.

Stakeholders believed it was also foolish for Nigeria’s solicitor general Dayo Apata to claim it inherited the situation from previous administrations because the government is a Going Concern, as the statement is making Nigeria a laughing stock among international community.

Foreign investors see the response from the permanent secretary, federal ministry of Justice as “suicidally, unintelligently arrogant.”

Investors were quite surprised about government silence and denial of the matter since the issues first began only to start responding after the court had given its judgment.

Lawyers representing Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, had argued that the arbitration award should not be enforced because it was “manifestly excessive and penal”, and that the UK was not the right jurisdiction for the case.

Justice Butcher rejected the government’s arguments.

The Nigerian government has yet to make any payment, and “has not applied to set it aside in any jurisdiction”, according to the ruling.

Source: https://businessday.ng/lead-story/article/gas-dispute-creditors-may-go-after-nigerias-eurobond-custodian/

(P&ID) who won the judgement in London, might resort to going after Nigeria’s Eurobond custodian; a development which could have a devastating blow to the credit rating of the country, derail the 2018 budget and plunge the economy back into recession.

Ok now I can see how they plan on taking cash. If they succeed Nigeria wil be up the proverbial creek without proper propulsion. In the Congos case court restrictions were lifted on it but not before they missed bond psyment. I'll be interested to see what becomes of this.

So even on the international scene the solicitor general was also playing the popular APC blame game? If the past administration did not honor the agreement what stopped this administration from keeping to the agreement. This guys are just pathetic mediocres

It is well o

Our Govt and its blame blame thing.. am sure apc administration self would be blamed more than the way dey blamed pdp administration.. esha lo San gbese teje

This is big wahala for Nigeria and Nigerians.....FG need to appeal to PID and seek out of court settlement.

k

We are just on autopilot in this country...

Matters arising.....

after4:
So even on the international scene the solicitor general was also playing the popular APC blame game? If the past administration did not honor the agreement what stopped this administration from keeping to the agreement. This guys are just pathetic mediocres

And what would make the past government of PDP not pay the debt during period of high crude sale if not corruption which is PDP trademark...its not about blame game but putting things in the right perspective

/
Worst case scenario, investors run for the hills.
Naira joins its counterparts in Zimbabwe and Venezuela. Inflation hits the roof and the wailing will be out of this world.

This NextLevel will be very interesting.

/

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9billion dollars, equal to 3.2trillion naira,gbese re .

why making agreement they couldn't fulfilled in the first place,if not that the regime was useless,they have to cancelled the agreement immediately after they have realized they couldn't keep with it,they think Oyinbo people were reckless just as Gej,Diazeni and her goon kept looting the treasury to bought jewelry and yatch but couldn't keep promise,stupid people, now they have caused problems for we Nigerians and present govt again.

my country people sha! sh*t!

dey still go talk this trash for court of law outside the country ?! SMH. Anyways, let sha pray make dem take d appropriate steps to subdue any form of panic among d investors.

When unintelligent persons are elected to rule a country and make laws this is what happens, it back fires.

tempex88:
This is big wahala for Nigeria and Nigerians.....FG need to appeal to PID and seek out of court settlement.

Out of court settlement is long past after judgment.

Go tell your government to pay up.

Ordinary traders that fire razed down their shops in the market, Federal government will not compensate, yet they pay multiple taxation. Now, let me see if they will not pay up in this case.

I think � all Nigerian traders should start taking up their cases to the British courts.
Elzazaky and sowore should go to the British courts too.

Too much sense will not kill me...

olajizz01:
9billion dollars, equal to 3.2trillion naira,gbese re .

why making agreement they couldn't fulfilled in the first place,if not that the regime was useless,they have to cancelled the agreement immediately after they have realized they couldn't keep with it,they think Oyinbo people were reckless just as Gej,Diazeni and her goon keep looting the treasury to buy jewelry and hatch but couldn't keep promise,stupid people, now they have caused problems for we Nigerians and present govt again.

Blame game continues... the previous government negotiated out of court settlement of $850m to be paid in tranches, But as usual Buhari saw it as PDP/GEJ fraud. They now went to court and here we are blaming GEJ. The oversabi Buhari is leading Nigeria to a third recession because he is "fighting" imaginary corruption.

Blue3k:


Source: https://businessday.ng/lead-story/article/gas-dispute-creditors-may-go-after-nigerias-eurobond-custodian/

all pretense aside.let talk business it was predicted that Naira will slide at the last quarter of this year .because of the Govt excessive spending!
but no people foresee this poo .this is a big problem.it will drag down the Naira and whenever the Naira start loosing value ......... ?.

Venezuela will be our case!. i was preparing to take advantage of the poo from this Govt .but ever i is not even ready for this either.
we need prayer for every Nigerian . financial crisis is becoming for everybody and it is value of the Naira going south and pushing us to the brink

InvertedHammer:
/
Worst case scenario, investors run for the hills.
Naira joins its counterparts in Zimbabwe and Venezuela. Inflation hits the roof and the wailing will be out of this world.

This NextLevel will be very interesting.

/

when buhari finish with this country .people will line up and will be fighting to be the first to jump off third main land bridge Lagos

Difrent:


And what would make the past government of PDP not pay the debt during period of high crude sale if not corruption which is PDP trademark...its not about blame game but putting things in the right perspective

dey there dey blame past goverment today one cannot drive his or her new car from Abuja to kaduna ondo to ekiti ore to Benin benue to nasarawa,o I command you in the name of ayamatanga oya begin to blame Jonathan's goverment ,

Government is indeed a continuum what only changes is leadership. The fact that the issue started during the former president's administration does not mean today's government should ignore it nor unintelligently argue that it should be disregarded and suspended.

This further shows lack of grip by Buhari on his government. He his not in tune and in touch with developments around the country and outside that could have major impact on the country.

One would have expected critical and threatening economic matter like this to have been discussed at FEC and regular briefing by minister of finance assuring all stakeholders about the progress being made and measures planned should the judgment go against the government.

I just hope after he finishes his tenure Nigeria's case won't be "there was a country".

Meanwhile, Seun you really need to improve on your site. It's long overdue for upgrade. If not it's just a matter of time before another platform like this with much better interface and layout is created that will bury Nairaland.

Kindly take to this advice.

[s]

Coolcash1:
Government is indeed a continuum what only changes is leadership. The fact that the issue started during the former president's administration does not mean today's government should ignore it nor unintelligently argue that it should be disregarded and suspended.

This further shows lack of grip by Buhari on his government. He his not in tune and in touch with developments around the country and outside that could have major impact on the country.

One would have expected critical and threatening economic matter like this would have been discussed at Exco meeting and regular briefing by minister of finance assuring all stakeholders about the progress being made and measures planned should the judgment go against the government.

I just hope after he finishes his tenure Nigeria's case won't be "there was a country".

Meanwhile, Seun you really need to improve on your site. It's long overdue for upgrade. If not it's just a matter of time before another platform like this with much better interface and layout is created that will bury Nairaland.

Kindly take to this advice.

[/s]

It was fraudulent and planned

I remember this case and the GEJ's government then opted for an out of court settlement. The arrogant bastard rigging rugarist came in and as usual threw everything he didn't understand away without asking for details forgetting government is continuum

Now Nigeria would pay for his foolishness very heavily! Imagine an out of court settlement which would have seen us pay $850m in tranches now a judgement debt worth $9b in whole payment. And to imagine one very uneducated fool went there with the APC blame game manuscript!

Does he think the UK'S judicial system is like ours here which lack merit and can throw away a case with substance for a filing technicality? They think because they win cases here using the we vs them syndrome they can go replicate that outside the country? Bunch of inept fools!

Why are we afraid of another recession?
I heard from some political fanatics that foreign reserve is not important hence goodluck was right for spending our foreign reserve.

Difrent:


And what would make the past government of PDP not pay the debt during period of high crude sale if not corruption which is PDP trademark...its not about blame game but putting things in the right perspective

This is exactly what the permanent secretary said, and the international investors said he is an unintelligent person.

Stop linking Nigeria's economy to Europe's.
Govt. officials running to Europe to sign contracts on behalf of Nigeria have always been a problem.

vedaxcool:
[s][/s]

It was fraudulent and planned

Did we ever expect a better argument from educated sophisticated zom-bies like you? No!

Go and tell the British courts it was planned.

vedaxcool:
[s][/s]

It was fraudulent and planned

This is the problem I have with Nigerians. How do you know this. Do you have proofs?

Assuming it is, that's no longer the question. Now they have a big problem in their hands.

I am not a partisan person and I like to address national issues objectively.

after4:
So even on the international scene the solicitor general was also playing the popular APC blame game? If the past administration did not honor the agreement what stopped this administration from keeping to the agreement. This guys are just pathetic mediocres

It is really senseless how you tried to justify the past administration by bringing the new administration into this, without acknowledging that parties had been in court for years before the current Nigerian administration came into power.

Nigeria is about to enter another round of recession with all these negative news flying around.

Difrent:


And what would make the past government of PDP not pay the debt during period of high crude sale if not corruption which is PDP trademark...its not about blame game but putting things in the right perspective

I agree with you completely.

Everything isn't blame game.

GEJ messed things up big time.

He couldn't pay workers salaries, contractors etc, he depleted the excess crude and foreign reserve accounts.

All these happened when crude sold for way more that it sells today, and over the last four years. He can't honour a common agreement.

Mtchewww.