Thread by @OrjiUka

I am finally reading the details of the $6.6 Billion (+7.7% interest) Award entered against Nigeria by an Arbitral Tribunal seated in London. The entire circumstances surrounding the Award and the actions of Nigeria before and after lead me to conclude we have a CURSE chasing us.

This is going to be a very LONG read because as is my wont, I have to give you everything to enable you make your decision. In the end, I would be interested to see anybody that can convince me that Nigerian Govts do not conspire with outsiders to destroy Nigeria.

In 2010 the Nigerian Ministry of Petroleum Resources entered into a 20-year Gas Supply & Processing Agreement with a BVI company, P&ID Ltd. Nigeria was to supply Wet Gas to P&ID, so that the latter could process it in a newly-built facility and return it in the form of Lean Gas.

Under the agreement, Nigeria was to make certain arrangements for the agreed supply of Wet Gas, including building the necessary pipelines to enable P&ID Ltd do their part. Nigeria (you guessed it right) failed to do this for three years.

In March 2013, P&ID treated this failure by Nigeria as a repudiation of the agreement and commenced arbitration in London. Please note that PI&D claimed to have invested USD40 million (ONLY) in the project. It had not yet acquired the land or built ANY facilities.

In July 2015, an ad hoc tribunal seated in London decided that Nigeria was liable to P&ID. The quantum of damages had not been decided at this stage. Instead of Nigeria to settle, Nigeria’s lawyers decided to file an action IN NIGERIA to set aside an Award rendered IN LONDON.

Indeed the FHC, Lagos purportedly set aside the liability Award. Understandably, the Tribunal treated the Nigerian judgment as they ought to have, as though it never existed. More interestingly however, Nigeria's lawyers continued to participate in the quantum proceedings.

An article I read suggests in its conclusion that Nigeria's lawyers (they know themselves) did not challenge the facts, assumptions and calculations provided by a Claimant nor provided alternative evidence to the Tribunal.
grantthornton.co.uk/insights/quant…

In the end, in January 2017, the tribunal by a majority of 2-1 (the Nigerian appointed arbitrator dissenting) awarded $6.6 billion in damages to P&ID. This was obviously as extraordinary figure. The dissenting opinion infact estimated the loss at $250 million over three years.

The @TheNationNews in this report claims that the fine (sic) emanated from the contractual breach of three previous admins of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua & Goodluck Jonathan. This was obviously not correct. The contract was 2010-2013.
thenationonlineng.net/london-arbitra…

I don't know whether the Govt played politics with this, but what we do know is that, and as highlighted in this excellent piece, the GEJ Govt reached a settlement with P&ID Ltd to pay $850 million ONLY out of Arbitration Award.
arbitrationblog.kluwerarbitration.com/2019/03/21/arb…

The GEJ Govt did not however pay the settlement sum and handed over to the PMB Govt. The Govt decided AGAINST proceeding with the settlement and instead instructed their lawyers to set aside the quantum Award. By this time the Award had risen to $9.9B ($6.6B + $2.3B interest).

On 16 March 2017, P&ID Ltd filed the petition before the US Courts to confirm the Award. Believe or not, Nigeria FAILED to show up in court. As a result, the US Court entered default judgment against Nigeria. If yot do not believe me, click this link. iarbafrica.com/en/news-list/1…

To establish a pattern, I digress. There was another Award against Nigeria in favour of Enron, arising from a contract for construction of certain electrical facilities that would have alegedly generated 3000 Megawatts of electricity. The contract was terminated 9 DAYS LATER.

Without going into the merits/demerits of the cancellation, there has to be something damning about negotiating a contract, executing it and then turn around to cancel it 9 days later. Why? We may never know. What we know is that our leaders continue to make us a laughing stock.

There is yet another ongoing dispute this time involving Interocean, an American company regarding the seizure by Nigerian Govt of the control of Pan Ocean (and the OML 98). Nigeria recently applied and failed to disqualify ALL the members of the Arbitral Tribunal.

Back to the F&ID Award, for which a whopping $9.9 Billion was now outstanding (with interest which continues to run at $1.3m per year). F&ID Ltd then brought proceedings in London to enforce the award. The processes were served on Nigeria, guess what our officials did? 😭😭😭

Under the English Rules, Nigeria had 2 MONTHS and 22 DAYS to file what it called acknowledgment of service. Nigeria had up to 15 August 2018 to file this. Nigeria did not file until 12 October 2018. I will quote verbatim et literatum why Nigeria delayed in filing it.

"Although the claim form was passed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and received at the Ministry of Justice, it was simply IMMEDIATELY FILED and NOT PASSED UP THE CHAIN OF COMMAND. The relevant senior figures within the Ministry of Justice only became aware of the matter...

... after the deadline for filing and acknowledgment of service had already passed and only after it was drawn to [the attention of Nigeria's English counsel] following receipt of correspondence from the claimant's solicitors."
😭😭😭😭😭😭

In the end the English courts only considered the extraordinary amount of the Award and the effect on the citizens and tax payers in Nigeria in allowing Nigeria file its processes late and defend the enforcement proceedings.

In another article @ONELEJOSEPH writes that on 15 February 2019 the English High Court reportedly granted Nigeria an extension of time to file its arguments on the merits and has now scheduled the case for 21 May 2019 for hearing on the merits.
businessday.ng/opinion/articl…

On 21st May 2019, God willing, I will be present in the court of Mr Justice Brian in Case No CL-2018-000182 to know whether or not Nigeria will successfully resist the enforcement of the now over $10billion Award. You will be the first to learn the outcome of the proceedings.

As I said at the start, and having regard to the entire circumstances of this dispute, I now await superior logic to my simplistic explanation that successive Nigerian public officers have a covenant to continually sacrifice Nigeria's interest for their selfish desires. End! 😓😓

Apologies. I got my maths wrong. Maybe that explains the choice of my profession. The Award sum as at when enforcement proceedings were brought in the US & London was $8.9B($6.6B Award + $2.3B Interest) not $9.9B. But interest continues to run at $1.3m a day... Apologies again.

UPDATE: P&ID Founder speaks.
thisdaylive.com/index.php/2019…

By way of further updates. Apologies (particularly for those who have asked) for the delay in providing this update. As I noted in this thread, the case between P&ID Ltd against Nigeria was scheduled for hearing on 21st May 2019. However the case did not go on.

I have just come across this report which claims that the proceedings were rescheduled to 14th June 2019
dailytrust.com.ng/gas-deal-fg-de…

I am delighted that the dispute is now receiving the requisite publicity. If this had been the case, I doubt if Nigerian officials & lawyers would have taken some of the steps they took. I am happy to have played my lil role in that regard and to you of course for contributing.

I must add that the denial by the Hon AGF of the SM reports that Nigeria's assets will be seized is neither here nor there. Indeed Nigeria is defending the claim, but if (God forbid) it fails, then Nigeria's assets WILL BE seized. Anyways so 14th June it is. I hope I can make it.

While selecting my @KCL_Law LLM Dissertation topic, the primary consideration for me was a topic that would contribute to legal scholarship while at the same time helping to paint Nigeria in positive light. So I settled for a topic around improving Nigeria's investment climate.

@KCL_Law In the course of my research, I came across the info which I shared in the thread above. Understandably some liked it and some were bitter about it. While still battling with that, I have just come across this piece by @BRICBreaker for @ForbesInvestor 😣😣
forbes.com/sites/kenrapoz…

@KCL_Law @BRICBreaker @ForbesInvestor Please tell me, where do I start from? How, and in what language, can I in good faith, conclude my research by saying that Nigeria is a fantastic destination for foreign direct investment yen yen yen ...

Today 14 June 2019 is the day slated for the hearing of the application by P&ID Ltd seeking to enforce the $8.9Billion (and counting) award against Nigeria. The hearing is taking place at the Rolls Building of the Royal Courts of Justice, London. I hope to keep you posted.

Meanwhile an English High Court yesterday, 13 August 2019 ordered the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to give security in the sum of $24,062,000 as condition for adjournment of an application seeking to enforce an Award in England. This is in the case of AIC Ltd v FAAN.