A United States court of appeals for the second circuit has overturned orders which blocked Nigeria from obtaining documents to support its appeal against a $10 billion judgement awarded against it in a case against Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID).
In 2019, a British court gave P&ID the go-ahead to seize Nigerian assets worth $9 billion over a 2010 contract.
The company claimed it agreed with Nigeria to build a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River state, but that the deal collapsed because the Nigerian government did not fulfil its end of the bargain.
The award, which has been accruing interest since 2013, is now worth $10 billion.
Nigeria had alleged that the gas deal was a scam designed to defraud the country.
Lawyers representing the federal government told the court that P&ID officials paid bribes to get the contract.
But P&ID denied the allegation and accused the Nigerian government of “false allegations and wild conspiracy theories”.
