The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Friday dismissed the appeal filed by the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) against First Bank of Nigeria over a N200 billion Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) disbursement dispute dating back to 2013.
Delivering seven judgements over six hours, Justice Okon Abang held that NAIC, by seeking to withdraw its suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja, after issues had been joined, was attempting to “cunningly manipulate judicial proceedings to save a suit that appears weak and manifestly unsupported.”
The appeal followed the March 2015 Federal High Court ruling by Justice A.R. Mohammed, which dismissed NAIC’s originating summons seeking declaratory reliefs against First Bank for allegedly failing to deduct a 2.5% premium payable to it from the disbursed CACS funds.
At the trial court, NAIC argued that First Bank, as one of the disbursing banks, had defaulted on its obligations. The bank countered with affidavits and written submissions, opposing the substantive suit. After several adjournments since 2013, NAIC applied to withdraw the case, citing alleged attempts by Mr. Jubril Aku, a Bankers’ Committee representative, to broker an out-of-court settlement.
The court noted that the withdrawal application came after the bank had filed its counter-affidavit and the matter was set for hearing. Justice Abang ruled that an order striking out the suit would only have been appropriate if the withdrawal had been sought before service of the respondent’s counter-affidavit.
“Upon sighting the respondent’s counter-affidavit, the appellant became apprehensive that its case would be dismissed,” Justice Abang said. “NAIC sought a soft landing by withdrawing the suit so it could be refiled later. This cannot be allowed under our watch.”
The judge further questioned NAIC’s reliance on the Bankers’ Committee, which was not a party to the suit and had previously been struck out from joining the case. He concluded that NAIC was no longer willing to prosecute the matter and affirmed the trial court’s dismissal.
The Court of Appeal also awarded N1 million in legal costs in favour of First Bank.
The Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme, established in 2009 and financed through a N200 billion bond raised by the Debt Management Office, aimed to boost agricultural financing with loans at a maximum interest rate of 9%.
