Nigeria gets more time to appeal $10bn gas fine

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 A London court has granted Nigeria more time to appeal against a nearly $10bn (£7.5bn) fine in a case with a UK-based company in relation to a major botched project to develop a gas processing plant.

Nigeria had sought permission to appeal against the multi-billion dollar fine despite missing the original appeal deadline last year. The court says it can now file its challenge but has not specified any time frame.

In 2010 a deal to develop a gas-processing plant was awarded to Process Industrial and Developments (P&ID) but it later collapsed.

The UK-based company had said the contract collapsed because Nigeria did not honour its part of the deal - leading to a legal battle and a fine against Nigeria in 2013.

The fine was originally $6.6bn but interest has accrued in the seven years since.

Nigeria’s Justice Minister Abubakar Malami told the BBC the country will continue to pursue the case to ensure the fine is overturned.


Nigeria has barred airlines from a number of countries as it resumes international passenger flights on Saturday.

Ten airlines have not been allowed to operate - including Air France, KLM Royal Dutch from the Netherlands, Lufthansa from Germany, and Etihad Airways from the United Arab Emirates.

This is because Nigerians with tourist visas are not allowed entry into those countries.

Nigeria had said it would retaliate any entry ban against its citizens.

Some of the airlines are not allowed to operate in Nigeria because their own countries have yet to resume international passenger flights.

But flights from 14 airlines will be allowed to land including from British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.

Passengers will only be allowed into the country under strict conditions:

  • All passengers must present a negative result from a Covid-19 test done more than four days before departure - and they will be tested again on arrival
  • Passengers with coronavirus symptoms will not be allowed to board
  • Any airline operator that carries any passenger without a negative test result will be fined the sum of $3,500 (£2,600) and must return the passenger to the country of departure

Nigeria suspended international flights in March as part of efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The resumption of the flights comes after a week delay due to logistical issues.

It is part of what the authorities called "reopening the economy" affected by the pandemic.

Nigeria has recorded more than 54,000 cases with just over 1,000 deaths but daily infections are beginning to decline.

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