UK Court Dismisses P&ID Appeal, Upholds Nigeria’s £43m Award

A Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom (UK) has dismissed the appeal of Process & Industrial Development (P&ID) on a previous judgment halting the enforcement of its $11 billion award against Nigeria.

In a unanimous decision, the Lead Judge, Lord Justice Snowden, permitted P&ID to appeal the judgment but dismissed the appeal.

In a copy of the judgment published on the UK judiciary website, one of the issues raised in the P&ID appeal bordered on whether the lower court was wrong to order the £43 million legal cost to be paid in British pound sterling and not in naira.

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The company argued that Nigeria funded its legal services by exchanging naira from its consolidated revenue fund.

The second issue is whether the Judge was right to order P&ID to pay Nigeria’s costs in sterling.

Snowden, the lead judge, accepted the arguments of Nigeria that since the legal cost was paid in sterling, the cost order should be paid in the same currency.

“In my judgment, therefore, the judge was right to accept Nigeria’s straightforward submission that because Nigeria had been invoiced and had incurred its liability to its solicitors in sterling and had paid those bills in sterling, the court ought to make its Costs Order in sterling,” the judge ruled.

He therefore permitted P&ID to appeal but would dismiss the appeal.