Nigeria will not relinquish assets to a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands following a court ruling related a $9 billion gas project dispute, the West African country’s information minister said on Tuesday.
Earlier this month a judge in London granted Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) the right to attempt to seize some $9 billion in assets from the Nigerian government over an aborted gas project. The company was set up solely for the project.
The company was awarded $6.6 billion in an arbitration decision over a failed project to build a gas processing plant in the southern Nigerian city of Calabar. The judge’s decision converted the arbitration award to a legal judgment and the sum rose to around $9 billion with interest payments.
Information Minister Lai Mohammed – addressing journalists alongside the finance minister, attorney general and central bank governor in the capital, Abuja – said it would not relinquish any assets.
“The federal government is taking all necessary steps to appeal the decision of the UK Court, to seek a stay of execution of the decision, to defend its rights and to protect the assets of the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
The $9 billion sum would be one of the largest financial penalties imposed on Nigeria, representing 20% of the currency reserves of Africa’s largest economy and top oil producer.
