The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a N170 million contract swimsuit instituted by Micheleti & Tal Ltd towards the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment and Zenith Bank over the award of a contract for the rehabilitation of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, dated October 14, 2005.
Nairametrics solely studies that Justice James Omotosho dismissed the case on October 12, 2026, holding that the claimant was caught by the statute of limitations.
He dominated that having “slept on its rights for years without taking any valid steps to legally enforce the contract, equity and the law cannot come to his aid.”
The dispute centred on the rehabilitation of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, the alleged evaluate of the contract, and the claims and denials by the events.
Plaintiff’s claims
The firm sought a number of reliefs, together with damages, excellent funds, litigation prices, and accrued curiosity, amounting to about N170 million.
Shay Tal, a director of the plaintiff, Micheleti & Tal Limited, had argued that the corporate’s substantial efficiency of the contract enabled the ministry on the time to efficiently host the ECOWAS Trade Fair on the Lagos International Conference Centre.
He claimed that the plaintiff had written a number of letters to the defendants, interesting for cost of the excellent sum, however that they had allegedly remained adamant and unyielding.
The plaintiff maintained that it was entitled to cost for the work accomplished beneath the contract, whereas the defendants disputed their respective liabilities.
The dispute finally got here earlier than the Federal High Court, the place the events introduced their arguments concerning the contract, the cost directions, and the excellent steadiness.
The courtroom subsequently examined the claims and the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the swimsuit.
Zenith Bank denies contractual legal responsibility
According to an announcement on oath by Adebisi Ogunleye, a department head of the financial institution, the monetary establishment was not a celebration to any contractual settlement between the ministry and the plaintiff.
He added that there was no contract between the ministry and the financial institution in regards to the efficiency or non-performance of the settlement.
The official additional said that the cost instruction from the ministry, dated October 14, 2005, did nothing greater than instruct the financial institution to pay the plaintiff N150 million.
Counsel to the financial institution additionally submitted that there was no privity of contract between the plaintiff and the financial institution, as solely events to a contract can sue or be sued on it.
The lawyer urged the courtroom to carry that it was legally untenable for the plaintiff to implement contractual rights towards the financial institution, including that the financial institution owed no responsibility of care to the claimant and was a stranger to the contractual relationship.
Counsel additional submitted that an examination of the plaintiff’s witness revealed no allegation of wrongdoing towards the financial institution.
Court clears Zenith Bank
In his judgment on the financial institution’s function, Justice Omotosho held that it had been clearly established earlier than the courtroom {that a} banker-customer relationship existed between the ministry and the financial institution.
He added {that a} banker is contractually sure to obey the client’s mandate, stressing {that a} banker who acts opposite to the mandate breaches that contractual obligation.
- The choose agreed that the financial institution couldn’t act exterior the precise directions given to it by the ministry, including that “Exhibit DWE merely stated the purpose for the funds and did not refer to the Plaintiff in any capacity.”
He said that the implication was that banks are answerable solely to their clients and to not third events who may need dealings with their clients.
- “A bank only becomes liable to pay over to a third party in compliance with a Court order in garnishee proceedings, not in a simple contract dispute such as this,” he added.
Justice Omotosho held that the claimant’s explanation for motion was directed on the ministry, expressing shock that the financial institution had been added as a co-defendant.
The choose consequently struck out Zenith Bank from the swimsuit, observing that there was no affordable explanation for motion towards the monetary establishment.
Lagos Trade Fair Complex contract dispute
Regarding the corporate’s claims towards the ministry, the courtroom discovered it shocking that the plaintiff waited till December 2011 to file an motion, though its explanation for motion started to accrue on October 28, 2005, when it demanded cost of N97,646,146, the excellent steadiness of the N292,853,854 it claimed it was owed.
- “The breach of contract occurred when the 1st Defendant refused to pay the Plaintiff its balance based on the work already completed,” the choose said.
- “A period of over six years and one month had elapsed between the date the outstanding sum became payable and the date this action was first filed,” he added.
He said {that a} calculation of the limitation interval confirmed that the plaintiff had till October 27, 2011, to file its swimsuit.
- “Failure of which, the cause of action would be caught by the statute of limitation. Unfortunately, the Plaintiff waited till December to file an action,” he added.
The courtroom concluded that there should be an finish to litigation and that the motion was statute-barred as a result of it had exceeded the relevant limitation interval.
Consequently, the choose dismissed the swimsuit.
What you need to know
The Lagos International Trade Fair was first held in 1977, shortly after Eko Hotels and Suites was accomplished.
- It is an annual occasion related to the Trade Promotions Board and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Nigeria’s oldest chamber of commerce.
- It was in some unspecified time in the future reputed to be the most important enterprise market within the ECOWAS sub-region, attracting traders from different elements of the world.
- The occasion was initially staged on the Lagos Trade Fair Complex alongside the Badagry Expressway in Ojo earlier than relocating to Tafawa Balewa Square.
The Lagos International Trade Fair Complex incorporates a hexagonal-shaped exhibition corridor coated with space-roof components and shading panels, which represented an architectural innovation on the time.
In 2017, the Federal Government reportedly took over the LITFC.
At a press convention in Lagos, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the LITFC Management Board on the time, Mrs Lucy Ajayi, mentioned the concessionaire, Aulic Nigeria Limited, had breached its settlement by failing to remit N6 billion in lease charges to the Federal Government.
