Nigeria, Feb. 25 -- A United States court has sentenced a former senior official of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Paulinus Okoronkwo, to 87 months (seven years and three months ) in federal prison for receiving a $2.1 million bribe linked to oil drilling rights in Nigeria.

Mr Okoronkwo, 58, was sentenced by the US District Judge John Walter, according to a statement published on the website of the United States Attorney's Office in California on Monday.

"A Los Angeles-area lawyer was sentenced today to 87 months in federal prison for receiving a $2.1 million bribe while serving as an officer of Nigeria's state-owned oil company in connection with negotiating favorable drilling rights for a subsidiary of a Chinese s...