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Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Federal Government has started implementing enhanced strategies geared towards setting aside the entire P&ID liability and possible nullification of the contract.
Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation made this known in a statement by Dr Umar Gwandu, his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations Office of the Minister in Abuja yesterday.
P&ID, an Irish engineering company, had secured a $9.6 billion award against Nigeria following the non-execution of a 20-year gas and supply processing agreement (GSPA) the company had with the federal government.
According to the Minister, under the new strategy, “no lawyers were replaced, but more lawyers with specialised skills are locally and internationally engaged to support the existing capacity and initiate fresh suits with a view to achieving the desired result.
“This time around it is not limited to a challenge on enforcement proceedings, but extended to setting aside the entire liability and probably the nullification of the contract on which the award was hinged.”
While repudiating the allegation on replacement of the Nigerian Legal team on P&ID Malami said: “Our lawyers originally engaged have proven to be versatile, competent and effective and constitute our winning team. They have such capacity that we do not doubt in their ability to deliver.
“There was no change of counsel, but enhanced strategy commonly agreed upon which was targeted at getting overall success.”
Malami described the so-called P&ID contract as a well-organised scam “consciously, deliberately and intentionally orchestrated by some dubious – and well-placed Nigerian government officials at the time with some shrewd foreign collaborators to defraud Nigeria and inflict heavy economic and financial loss on Nigeria and its people.
He vowed that the Federal Government will not sell out the interest of the country and the Nigerian people in order to satisfy some elements who are consciously out to extort the Nigerian people for their selfish aggrandisement.
“We will not allow fraudulent local and foreign collaborators to rip off the resources of Nigeria for no just cause but merely to be seen as being nice or ‘investor-friendly’” he reaffirmed.
Meanwhile, a Briton, James Nolan has applied for variation of his bail at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
