P&ID Fallout: How a Multinational Engineering Company Intends to Collect $9.4bn owed to it by Nigerian Government

On the 23th of August, a UK Judge said he would grant a firm called Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) the right to seize an estimated $9 billion in assets from Federal Government over an aborted gas project.

In 2015, P&ID was awarded a sum of $6.6 billion by a London tribunal during an arbitration process that Nigeria’s Government took part in.

The FG didn’t pay up and the sum has accrued an interest of over $2 billion.

P&ID has thus taken the matter to the courts, first in the UK, where a Judge has decided that the firm is allowed to seize Nigeria’s international assets if the Government still refuses to pay.

Following this up will be another court case in the USA, where P&ID will present the same facts.

The FG under President Mohammadu Buhari has fought the case at every step, to further substantial cost, and has been forced to pay some of the engineering firm’s fees.

In a statement by Nigeria’s legal team, the  tribunal’s award was referred to as manifestly excessive and the court’s jurisdiction in the matter has been called into question as the agreement was not signed in the UK.