The Process and Industrial Developments on Sunday, expressed its readiness to negotiate with Nigeria over the $9.6bn judgment of a United Kingdom court that may authorize the company to seize the nation’s assets to offset the judgment debt.
According to Punch, the company, while expressing readiness to return to the negotiation table, advised the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to “appoint an authorised party to enter into real negotiations” instead of what it called Nigeria’s “baseless slander and sham investigations against the P&ID and its founders.”
Responding to Punch's inquiry on behalf of P&ID over the controversial $9.6bn judgment, P&ID’s lead counsel, Ian Mill, a Queen’s Counsel, of the UK-based Blackstone Chambers, advised Nigeria to accept the reality of the ruling of the arbitration panel and the UK court’s judgment and desist from its “campaign of baseless slander.”
The reply read in part
“If the Nigerian government is serious about a willingness to negotiate, then it must do so in good faith.
“This means that the Buhari administration must acknowledge the reality of the rulings of the independent tribunal and the English Commercial Court, desist from its campaign of baseless slander and sham investigations against the P&ID and its founders, and instead appoint an authorised party to enter into real negotiations.”
Meanwhile, the Company says it will proceed with plan to seize Nigeria's asset as directed by the court, pending when the Federal Government returns to the negotiation table.
“The coming days will tell if the Nigerian government is serious, or if this is simply another delaying tactic. In the meantime, the P&ID will continue its efforts to identify and seize Nigerian assets to satisfy the debt.”
