Judgment
ELFRIEDA OLUWAYEMISI WILLIAMS-DAWODU, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment) : This appeal arose as a result of the Judgment of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Suit FCT/HC/CV/574/2014, delivered by Hon. Justice A. B. Mohammed on November 6th, 2017 wherein the Court found in favour of the Respondent (the Plaintiff at the Court below) and granted the reliefs sought.
See pages 342- 360 of the printed Record before this Court. From the facts garnered in the Record, the Respondent, a major importer and marketer of petroleum products within the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, sometime in December 2010, agreed to fund the importation of 30,000 Metric Tons (MT) of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) for the Appellant who was given the allocation for importation for the 1st quarter of 2011. The Respondent is a major customer of Sterling Bank with trade facility running into an excess of USD100,000,000 (One Hundred Million Dollars).
According to the Respondent, its commitment was based on the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) letter of September 30th 2010 in favour of the Appellant. The Respondent set the machinery into motion on behalf of the Appellant, paid for the requisite charges for FORM M for the importation of 30,000 MT and caused inflow of funds into the Appellant’s account at various times to fund the letter of credit for the importation.
The 30,000 MT of PMS was imported and sold in line with the PPPRA’s mandate at commercial rate and the subsidy element to be paid within the confines of the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) Scheme. The commercial proceeds according to the Respondent were paid to liquidate the letters of credit and the subsidy element was not paid as at when due until about 4-5 months beyond statutory period as opposed to Forty-five (45) days when subsidy payments are normally paid.
As the subsidy payment on the 30,000 MT of PMS was not made as at when due, the Respondent claimed to have suffered liability in terms of accumulated interest on the trade finance facilities used for the importation of the PMS for the Appellant. And in line with its practice, the PPPRA Debt Management Office with the Federal Ministry of Finance computed and assessed the foreign exchange as well as interest rate differentials as Ninety-two Million, Three hundred and Forty-two Thousand One Hundred and Fifty-seven Naira, Eighty-nine Kobo (N92,342,157.89K).
