President Tinubu Hails Judgment by London’s High Court as Victory for Africa over Economic Malpractice

It also underlines the need for governmental transparency and due diligence in making contracts. In late October London’s High Court overturned an arbitration decision which had seen Nigeria liable for $11bn in compensation to a firm which the government insisted had acted fraudulently. The original case had been brought to London’s arbitration courts by Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), a company registered in the British Virgin Islands that in 2010 signed an agreement with Nigeria’s petroleum ministry to develop a processing plant in Calabar, Cross River State. When Nigeria failed to build a pipeline that would have supplied the plant, the firm alleged breach of contract and began arbitration proceedings in London. That led to a $6.6bn judgment in the company’s favour, which later swelled to $11bn as it accrued interest. But on 23 October High Court judge Justice Robin Knowles reversed the decision. He concluded that P&ID had paid bribes to a Nigerian oil ministry official in connection with the contract and had failed to disclose these when it commenced arbitration.

AFRICAN BUSINESS