Nigeria Gov’t Ordered to Pay $9bn for Botched Transaction

A judge in the United Kingdom has ordered the Nigerian government to pay $9bn to a company it once did business with. The British company, P&ID, went to court to sue the Nigerian government for the abrogation of a contract they entered.

The company accused the government of dereliction of duty in the case when the defendant refused to provide the needed infrastructural logistics as pertained in the contract. The deal was reached in 2010 but collapsed two years later. An earlier ruling in 2017 put the amount at $6.6bn but it has accrued interest to its current figure.

The lawyers for the Nigerian government have questioned the legality of the court’s order since the transaction was enacted under Nigerian law and as such only a Nigerian court can adjudicate the case.

In the event Nigeria refuses to pay the money to the company, the judge has given the latter the right to seize Nigerian government property held in Britain to offset the money owed them.