Gas Deal: The doom-laden $9bn pejorative London judgment
In William Shakespeare’s hilarious love play: A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Act 3 Scene 2, fictional character Hermia was described as “Though she is little, she is fierce!” One may not go into details of the characterization of Hermia who might be small in size or metaphorically weaker or smaller, but she is strong and fierce. This may essentially be about a tiny company, against a goliath of the oil industry. Process & Industrial Developments Ltd., P&ID won a London court ruling that may force Nigeria, to pay it about US$9 billion, about 20 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign reserve. On Friday last week, a London Commercial Court presided over by Justice Christopher Butcher, gave a ruling to convert an arbitration award to a legal judgment that would allow P&ID make applications to seize Nigerian international commercial assets. The country’s solicitor general Dayo Apata in response said that the Nigerian government would appeal the decision.