P&ID gas supply contract — $9.6bn (later ~$11bn+) arbitration award
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What happened
In January 2010 the Federal Government signed a Gas Supply and Processing Agreement with P&ID for a gas-processing plant in Calabar. When the deal collapsed, P&ID won a $6.6bn arbitration award in 2017, later enforced at $9.6bn by an English court in 2019 — about a fifth of Nigeria's foreign reserves at the time, per BusinessDay. Nigeria argued the contract was a sham: P&ID claimed $40m invested but showed no evidence of preparatory work, and EFCC bank evidence showed payments of over $20,000 to offshore accounts of the Nigerian ministry legal director who negotiated the deal, Grace Taiga. On 23 October 2023, a UK High Court judge set the award aside, finding P&ID had presented false evidence and bribed a Nigerian government lawyer. Nigeria subsequently won £44m in legal costs.
Red flags
Analytical observations against standard procurement-integrity patterns — not accusations.
Analytical observation: the Nigerian government stated P&ID 'never engaged anybody to carry out preparatory work, nor did it hold any land at that time' — a classic shell-contractor red flag (BusinessDay). P&ID disputed this at the time.
Analytical observation: EFCC-seized bank statements showed over $20,000 paid to offshore accounts of the ministry's Director of Legal Services, Grace Taiga, by companies associated with P&ID while she negotiated the GSPA. Allegation attributed to EFCC; Taiga was charged but never convicted (died Sept 2023) (BusinessDay).
Analytical observation: the UK court ultimately found the arbitration itself was tainted by fraud — the court found false evidence, a bribed government lawyer, and improperly obtained confidential documents (Wikipedia summary of Knowles J judgment).
Sources
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