The Nigerian government says it has provided a bank guarantee of $200 million to a court in the United Kingdom.
This is part of its efforts to overturn the $9.2 billion judgement debt delivered against it by a British court in favour of an Irish firm, Process and Industrial Development (P&ID), which the government says is a result of fraud and corruption.
According to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, in a statement on Thursday, the development is a positive step for Nigeria to set aside the judgement.
In pursuit of this, the Federal Government has also provided a bank guarantee of $200 million to the UK court, following the court’s acceptance of a request from Nigeria for a stay of execution of the $9.2 billion judgement debt.
In a statement confirming the provision of the bond, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said that the government does not plan to forfeit the guaranteed sum to the court in the UK.
Malami also reiterated the point raised by the Nigerian government that the contract was fictitious.
P&ID had earlier approached a UK court to seek compensation for an aborted contract it signed with the government during the administration of Late President Umaru Yar’adua in 2010, to build a gas supply and processing plant in Calabar, Cross River State capital.
