Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court, Lagos, on Wednesday ordered Zamfara Government to pay Ecobank Nigeria N3.1 billion it owed the bank.
Abang gave the order while delivering judgment in a suit filed by Ecobank Nigeria against Zamfara Government.
Other defendants in the suit are the State Attorney-General, State Ministry of Finance, Accountant-General of the Federation; Attorney-General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The judge directed CBN, the Ministry of Finance and the Accountant-General of the Federation to ensure that the sum was remitted into the bank’s coffers by deducting it from the monthly allocations accruable to the state from the Federation Account.
Abang also ordered Zamfara to pay 30 percent interest on the sum per annum from March 1, 2013 when the suit was filed till date.
He added that the state must pay 10 per cent interest on the judgment sum until it was finally liquidated.
Ecobank had said the facility suffered a setback when First Bank “stopped the warehousing of the funds from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and consequently declined further remittance for the payment of the indebtedness.
However, the rentals till date have not been paid by Zamfara even after the rentals were due.
