Court Orders Firm to Seize $9b Nigeria’s Foreign Reserves

A UK court today granted court permission to an Irish-owned firm, Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) to seize up to $9bn (£7.4bn) in assets belonging to the Nigerian government.

Mr Justice Butcher of the British Commercial Court said that the firm can take 20 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign reserves, a move that would deal a devastating blow to the Nigerian economy.

In 2010, the company struck a deal in which the Nigerian government would supply gas to a processing plant in Calabar, built and run by P&ID, formed by two Irish businessmen.

The government failed to fulfil its side of the agreement.

However, in 2013 P&ID won a $6.6bn arbitration case. The figure was calculated based on what the company was estimated to have earned over the course of the 20-year agreement.

But P&ID now says interest accrued means it is owed $9bn.

Today’s decision means that the arbitration has been converted into a legal judgement, allowing P&ID to attempt a seizure of the assets, according to a report by City A.M

Lawyers representing the Nigerian government argued the award should not be enforced because England was not the correct place for the case, and even if it were, the amount awarded was “manifestly excessive.”

Justice Butcher rejected these arguments and said he would “receive submissions from the parties as to the precise form of order appropriate.”