The case highlights a risk to Nigeria’s foreign assets, potentially clouding its appeal to some investors, Reuters reported.
The request is part of a long-running saga over a 2010 deal in which the Nigerian government agreed to supply gas to a processing plant in Calabar, Cross River state that Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) – a little-known firm founded by two Irish businessmen specifically for the project – would build and run.
When the deal went south, P&ID won a $6.6 billion award at arbitration, based on what it could have earned during the 20-year agreement. It now says the total owed has ballooned to $9 billon because of interest accrued since 2013 .
Nigeria has tried to nullify the award, saying it was not subject to international arbitration but British courts rejected the argument.
P&ID is now asking the Commercial Court in London to convert the arbitration into a judgement, which would allow them to try to seize international assets.
A source close to President Muhammadu Buhari said they were fully aware of the matter and the government “is not sleeping”, adding they were optimistic the matter could be resolved in the courts. There are also proceedings pending at a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Buhari, who was inaugurated for a second term on May 29, has not yet appointed cabinet ministers, and officials contacted by Reuters said the lack of an attorney general or petroleum minister made it difficult for anyone to comment on the record.
“This is a problem that the Nigerians are not facing up to in any serious way,” said Andrew Stafford, Q.C. of Kobre & Kim LLP, which is representing P&ID.
Experts said it would be difficult for Nigeria to fully extricate itself.