Supreme Court Orders NNPC To Pay N8.1bn To Contractor

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld its earlier judgment, ordering the NNPC to pay $22.6 million (N8.1billion) in damages to BCE Consulting Engineers over a failed Consultancy Service Contract.

The NNPC, through its counsel, had approached the apex court seeking the review of a July 5, 2019 judgment over an alleged error of facts.

Judicial review is a procedure provided under the Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules for the review of extant judgments.

The counsel argued that the court did not hear their preliminary objection and that their cross appeal was dismissed with hearing.

Justice C. C. Nweze however dismissed the appeal, saying: “This apex court cannot be cajoled with this kind of application; it’s an abuse of justice.”

He, therefore, awarded the cost of N500,000 to be paid personally by counsel to the NNPC.

Efforts by The Guardian to get reactions from NNPC as at press time were unsuccessful. Calls to Acting Group General Manager Samson Makoji rang out while a text message was not replied to.