A British court has allowed the Nigerian government to appeal against a ruling that would have allowed a foreign company to seize assets worth 20% of the country’s foreign reserves.
This decision gives the Nigerian authorities some breathing space to find a way out of what has been described as one of the world’s biggest lawsuits.
Last month a court in London granted the firm Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) the right to claim Nigerian assets worth more than $9bn (£7.3bn).
Africa’s largest economy will have to pay $200m within the next two months, to ensure that no assets are seized.
This is the latest development in a dispute between P&ID and the Nigerian government, over a failed gas deal signed in 2010.
P&ID says the failure of successive Nigerian governments to deliver their end of the deal led it to suffer massive losses.
