Explainer: What Nigeria's $9.6bn fraudulent P&ID deal is all about

Bloomberg describes P&ID Chairman Michael “Mick” Quinn as "a 68-year-old Irishman with a rakish mustache and decades of experience in Nigeria, mostly as a military contractor.

"The company and its founders remain elusive. A Nigerian newspaper recently published a list of unanswered questions about the firm: Where are its offices? How many people does it employ? How did such a tiny company win such a large concession? Quinn isn’t around to answer them; he died of cancer in 2015.

"But a close examination of his career, drawn from public records, leaked documents, and interviews with friends and former associates, shows that P&ID wasn’t the only Quinn project to end in disappointment, lawsuits, and corruption allegations. It was just the largest—the one that was supposed to provide his biggest payday."

The big contract

In 2010, P&ID entered a 20-year gas contract with Nigeria. Under the terms of the contract, the company was supposed to build and operate a plant to refine natural gas into "lean gas" in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

The gas was being flared in the Niger Delta anyway; and the federal government thought it was good business to have a company convert some of that wasted, poisonous gas into electricity in the face of Nigeria’s perennial power woes.

The contract also stated that the government would install the necessary pipelines and infrastructure and receive the lean gas free of charge to power Nigeria’s fragile national grid, the company said.

A typical oil pipeline (AFP) AFP

P&ID would then sell the by-products of propane, ethane and butane on the international market.

A contract that was never executed

For some reason, the contract was never executed. In 2012, P&ID dragged Nigeria to court, alleging breach of contract.

In August of 2019, P&ID won its case against Nigeria.

Initially awarded for $6.6 billion, the contract sum would rise to $9.6 billion due to accrued interest since 2013.

Whose administration signed this contract?

According to the New York Times (NYT), government officials said the contract was signed while late president Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was critically ill and Goodluck Jonathan was acting president.

The P&ID deal was reportedly signed on Jonathan's watch. He's denied it (AFP) Pulse Nigeria

Johnathan has denied any knowledge of the contract.

The court case in Nigeria

On September 19, 2019, a Federal High Court in Abuja convicted two of P&ID’s representatives in Nigeria of charges bordering on money laundering, abuse of office and economic sabotage.

The court also ordered P&ID to forfeit all its assets to the Nigerian government.

The company representatives had pleaded guilty to 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and other charges.

Attorney General Abubakar Malami says the contract had been signed with no clear terms and conditions and that it "was engineered to fail" and defraud Nigeria.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed says the deal was an insanity [The Nation] Pulse Nigeria

"No country can sit idle when this type of case is calling," says Information Minister Lai Mohammed.

P&ID rejects Nigeria court judgment

P&ID has called the judgment of the court in Nigeria a "sham" and a clear case of intimidation by the state.

"Today's sham trial in Nigeria is entirely illegitimate and follows a systematic campaign of harassment, intimidation and illegal detention of a number of individuals associated with P&ID. The people had been intimidated by the government into making false statements,” the company said in a statement.

Quinn is the late Irish boss of the dodgy P&ID (Vanguard) Pulse Nigeria

P&ID said none of the individuals convicted are current employees. The firm also stated that it hasn't received communication from Nigerian authorities about the investigations.

The company said it will continue its efforts to identify and seize Nigerian assets to recover its money.

Nigeria heads to the UK to beg

On Thursday, September 26, 2019, a federal government delegation will head to the UK to persuade a British court to set aside an order permitting P&ID to seize $9.6 billion worth of assets from Nigeria, since the cash equivalent is not forthcoming.

The federal government delegation will include the Attorney General, Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele and Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu.

This is “about not allowing a case based on fraudulence to proceed," Malami was quoted as saying by NYT.

Nigeria's Attorney General Abubakar Malami says the deal was tailored to defraud Nigeria (Punch) ece-auto-gen

Emefiele has warned of "advanced consequences for the Nigerian economy" if P&ID is allowed to seize Nigeria’s assets.

For context, $9.6 billion is one-third of Nigeria's 2020 budget. Bloomberg estimates that the amount is enough to fund Nigeria’s school system for seven years.