$9.6 bn judgment debt: Ignore P&ID grandstand – Lai Mohammed

The Federal Government on Tuesday urged Nigerians to ignore the
ostentatious claims by the Process and Industrial Developments Ltd.
(P&ID) on compilation of Nigeria’s assets for attachment over a
9.6 billion dollar judgment debt.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
made the call in Abuja when he paid a working visit to the
headquarters of the “Leadership’’ Newspaper in Abuja.

Briefing the management and editorial board of the medium on the
purported gas contract that led to the judgment debt, the minister
reassured that government would take legal and diplomatic actions
to ensure no asset of the country is annex over the case.

“You will see that there is a lot grandstanding on the part of
the P&ID especially by the Public Relations consultant it
hired.

“As a matter of fact, they are already threatening that they are
already compiling the list of assets of Nigeria to attach.

“The true of the matter is that, even in the judgment, the court
said that it cannot start any attachment until the court resumes
from vacation.

“We are doing everything possible and we are very optimistic
that we will escape any embarrassment of attachment of the
country’s asset as a result of this dubious award.

“The federal government has taken all necessary steps to ensure
that no property of the country is attached by any court.

“Government will leave no stone unturned, legally and
diplomatically to ensure that our asset will not be affected as a
result of the judgment,’’ he said.

The minister reiterated that the contract was a scam from
inception with both local and international collaborators who aimed
at depleting the nation’s foreign reserves.

‘`How can people come in to Nigeria with portfolio, and walk
away with about 20 per cent of our entire foreign reserve.

“We believe that both in terms of morality and law, we are
confident that we will upturn the judgment.

“It is important to know that the government has also ordered
investigations into the transactions because there are strong
indications that under handed things went on,’’ he said.

A UK court had in a ruling authorized, P&ID, an Irish
engineering and project management company, to seize 9.6 billion
dollars in Nigerian assets over the failed gas contract.

The judgment was a fallout of the contract purportedly entered
into in 2010 between the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources
and P&ID, and subsequent award made in July 2015 by an
arbitration panel sitting in London in favour of the company.
(NAN)

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