Ejiofor Alike
The federal government has paid the sum of £250,000 to Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID) as running cost, following an order of the Commercial Court in London last month.
Justice Christopher Butcher gave the order on September 26 with a 14-day ultimatum to the Nigerian government, a deadline that expired Thursday.
Nigeria is currently battling to reverse the judgment of the London court which awarded $9.6 billion in favour of P&ID over an alleged breach of a gas supply contract agreement.
The government has also 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 after granting the country leave to appeal the judgment.
The Solicitor General of the Federation, Mr Dayo Akpata, who confirmed this yesterday to Channels Television, explained that payment of the running cost ordered by the court was made pending the hearing of the appeal against the $9.6 billion judgment in favour of P&ID.
He added that the cost was a normal process and would be paid back if the appeal was successful.
The federal government, through the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, had insisted that the P&ID contract was fraudulent.
The government had also sent a delegation to the United Kingdom, in its bid to overturn the judgment of the London court.
The team comprised two ministers, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as well as heads of the Nigeria Police Force and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Briefing journalists on the outcome of the visit, Mohammed had noted that they recorded a huge success.
“It was indeed a huge victory, and P&ID has every reason to be worried that the $9.6 billion arbitration award to it has a good chance of being overturned.
“The federal government looks forward to its day in court in the Court of Appeal, where it is confident that it will receive a fair hearing of its case and that the order permitting enforcement of the arbitral award will be set aside,” the minister had said.
