Nigeria’s trial of the century kicks off in London’s High Court

The Buhari administration is accusing a construction company registered in the British Virgin Islands of having bribed its way to an $11bn arbitration award against the Nigerian state.

The stakes of the 32-day trial could hardly be higher: if the High Court were to decide to enforce the arbitration tribunal’s decision, Nigeria would be liable to lose nearly a third of its foreign reserves – an amount equivalent to three times the country’s combined annual health and education budgets.