Eight months after the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), directed the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) to pay a judgment debt, the commission has yet to comply.
The debt arose from contracts executed by PSC Industries Limited and OGB-Tech Nigeria Limited for solar energy projects awarded by the ECN. The firms accused the commission of failing to pay for the completed projects, prompting a legal dispute that reached the Supreme Court.
In its final judgment on June 7, 2024, in appeal number SC/CV/1584/2022, the Supreme Court dismissed ECN’s appeal for lacking merit and upheld earlier rulings by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Court of Appeal. The apex court ordered the commission to pay the firms N157,035,350.00 plus 10 percent annual interest from November 5, 2018, until full payment.
Following the ruling, the firms’ legal representatives, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN) & Partners, wrote to the AGF on February 4, 2025, seeking consent to garnishee ECN’s bank accounts to recover the debt. Responding to the request, the AGF, through the Director of Civil Litigation and Public Law Department, Mrs. Maimuna Lami Shiru, in a March 24 letter, advised the commission to “endeavour to settle the matter amicably with the judgment creditors in the absence of any legal impediment.”
Despite the directive, the ECN has yet to comply. In a follow-up letter dated April 11, 2025, the two firms reminded the ECN that the total judgment debt had risen to N295,245,233.00, including N138,208,883.00 in accrued interest.
The firms have now threatened to return to the AGF for further action if the commission continues to ignore the Supreme Court judgment and the minister’s directive.
