Nigeria remains liable to P&ID for over US $9 billion under the final award issued by the arbitration tribunal in London. The award was never “set aside” by any court. The Nigerian government did not challenge the award when it was delivered in January 2017 and the time for legal challenges has long since expired. The Nigerian government did challenge an earlier award issued by the London tribunal (in which the tribunal concluded that Nigeria was at fault for ripping up its agreement with P&ID) but it lost: when the Buhari administration applied to an English court to set aside that award, the court said the Nigerian government was out of time but that in any event its challenge was “without merit.” Although subsequently the Nigerian government persuaded a Nigerian court to rule in its favor, that was clearly a sham: the Nigerian government knew that only the English court had the power to set aside the award, so obtaining a ruling from a Nigerian court simply had no legal effect. For that reason P&ID also chose not to participate in the sham Nigerian proceeding.
P&ID Facts > Myth/Fact > Nigeria is not liable for any damages to P&ID because the arbitration award in question was “lawfully set aside” by a court in Nigeria.