President Muhammadu Buhari has told Process and Industrial Development (P&ID), the Irish engineering firm that recently won a $9.6 billion judgment against Nigeria, that it will not succeed in its quest to defraud the country.
Buhari stated this at an address, yesterday, at the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA74) in New York assuring the administration “is facing the challenges of corruption head-on.”
A British commercial court had granted the company powers to seize Nigerian assets worth $9.6 billion over a failed gas processing deal where the federal government was said not have fulfilled its own part.
But Buhari, who reacted for the first time to the judgment, described it as a scam and warned of the government’s resolve to tackle international criminals.
“We are giving notice to international criminal groups by the vigorous prosecution of the P&ID scam attempting to cheat Nigeria of billions of dollars.”
President Buhari decried the activities of organised criminal networks which he said were acting with impunity across international borders.
Noting that such crimes present new challenges where only collective action can deliver genuine results, he highlighted the battle against violent extremism, trafficking in people and drugs, corruption among others.
The President called on tech companies to live up to their responsibilities and curb the spread of information capable of inciting nations against each other.
He recalled the massacre in New Zealand where a lone gunman took the lives of 50 worshippers and similar crimes that were fuelled by social media networks.
“Major tech companies must be alive to their responsibilities. They cannot be allowed to continue to facilitate the spread of religious, racist, xenophobic and false messages capable of inciting whole communities against each other, leading to loss of many lives,” President Buhari told the leaders at the summit.
The Nigerian leader noted that the assembly has the theme, ‘Galvanising multilateral efforts for poverty eradication, quality education, climate action and inclusion’.
According to him, the issues are the prime areas calling for collective action which will benefit national and global interests.
President Buhari informed the gathering that the world was at a critical juncture as the year marks the first anniversary of the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace.
Multilateralism symbolised by the UN system, he noted, has brought immense benefits to the people of the world.
He added that it has saved lives, prevented wars, restored peace and stability, as well as generated economic and social progress in many countries.
The President, however, called the attention of the summit to the alarming rate of poverty in some countries, especially in the African continent.
He said, “We must admit that as the world grows richer, there are regrettable signals in the World Economic and Political Order. Millions in Africa and around the world remain in abject poverty.
“Furthermore, we are witnessing a backlash against multilateralism in the shape of rising tide of racism, xenophobia, resurgent nationalism, populism and tendencies towards protectionism and unilateralism. The pristine principles of the United Nations appear threatened.”
