$9.6bn judgment: Nigeria agrees to pay $200m deposit, says P&ID

The Federal Government of Nigeria has finally agreed to pay the  $200m security deposit ordered by Justice Christopher Butcher of the Commercial Court in London in September in the ongoing gas dispute case between Nigeria and Process and Industry Development Limited,  it has been learnt.

The Federal Government through the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation had filed an appeal before the London court to stop the order of September 2019 to pay the $200m security deposit and the $9.6bn Tribunal Award in favour of P&ID.

The British court had  asked Nigeria to pay $200m security payment in the court’s account while granting request to stay execution in the award of $9.6bn award in favour of Process and Industry Development Limited.

In a statement exclusively obtained from P&ID by  PUNCH Newspaper on Saturday, the Federal Government’s legal team said during a hearing at the London court on Friday that Nigeria would pay the $200m security deposit.

The statement was made available by the Associate Director, In-House, London, the media firm that represents P&ID, Chris Roger read in part, “Before Justice Butcher today (Friday) in London, the Nigerian legal team acknowledged that President Buhari has authorised the steps to provide a bank guarantee for the $200m in security that was ordered by the English Court in September.

“Moreover, the following steps have already been taken by the Nigerian Government: Ministry of Finance has received approval to proceed with obtaining the bank guarantee; Minister of Finance has submitted a request to the Central Bank of Nigeria to proceed with procuring the bank guarantee; the Central Bank of Nigeria has submitted a request to an unnamed foreign correspondent bank to issue the bank guarantee from London and provide the relevant information to the court.”