• 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.