Nigeria obeys British court order, pays £250,000 to P&ID

 

Nigeria’s Federal Government Thursday paid £250,000 to Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID) Limited as ordered by Justice Christopher Butcher of the British Commercial Court on Thursday, September 26, The PUNCH has reported.

The government, it was further learnt on Wednesday, appealed against the order of the same court which asked that a $200 million security payment be made into its account within 60 days as a condition for a stay of execution of the $9.6 billion judgment earlier given in favour of P&ID.

Justice Butcher had at the September 26 proceedings granted Nigeria leave to appeal against the $9.6 billion awarded in favour of P&ID over an alleged breach of a gas supply contract tagged Gas Supply Processing Agreement.

In granting the leave, the court had ordered Nigeria to pay the £250,000 cost to P&ID within 14 days.

According to THE PUNCH report, Nigeria was able to beat the 14-day ultimatum which elapsed Thursday (today).

It was gathered that the payment was made through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has reportedly confirmed the development.

Malami said although the government had appealed the order to pay $200 million into the court’s account and applied for stay of execution, it paid the £250,000 cost out of respect for the court.

The minister said, “You know that there are two sets of money involved. There is the $200 million security payment and there is also the £250,000 cost.

“The $200 million security payment has not been paid. We have appealed against the order and we have also applied for stay of execution of the order.

“But we have paid the cost, which is £250,000, to P&ID.  The Nigerian government paid that cost out of respect for the court.”