$9.6bn Judgment Debt: Victory In UK Court, A Huge Relief, Says Lai Mohammed

Lai Mohammed
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has expressed that the ruling of a UK Commercial Court suspending the execution of a 9.6 billion dollar judgment debt against Nigeria is “a huge relief.”

The Minister made this known while speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

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A Commercial Court in the United Kingdom, Friday, granted Nigeria’s appeal for a stay of execution of the award of $9.6 billion in favour of P&ID, a controversial British firm that secured a gas contract in Nigeria.

Reacting to the court’s decision, the minister said the judgment has afforded Nigeria the chance to challenge the arbitrary award to prove that the entire contract award with P&ID was a scam.

“The ruling is a big victory for Nigeria because it does not only grants Nigeria only stay of execution but also suspends any penalty against Nigeria.

“For more than a year now, Nigeria has been restless in its search for justice because we have always believed that the P&ID gas supply contract was nothing but a sham.

“We pursued the case relentlessly both in the court of public opinion and in the court of law.The minister recalled that one of the challenges the administration faced as soon as it came on board for the second tenure was the slamming of the judgment debt on the country.

“The world and Nigeria were gripped with the fear that our foreign assets, our oil will be attached and investors were panicked, that was when we started our campaign.

“We were quite cleared on our mind that this matter will be won not just in the court of law but also in the court of public opinion,” he said.