Court orders Kwara Governor, 3 others to pay Medical Equip supplier N192million debt

An High Court sitting in Ilorin on Tuesday ordered the Kwara State Governor and three others to pay the sum of N192, 060,509.15 million to Botad General Limited being the cost of medical equipment supplied for the establishment of the Advanced Diagnostic Centre.

Other defendants in the suit are the Commissioner of Health, Commissioner of Finance and the Attorney General of the state respectively. The legal team of the defendants was led by Chief State Counsel A.A. Daibu.

While the delivering the judgment, Justice I.A. Yusuf, admitted in evidence all the agreement documents for installment payment of the said amount by the both parties as presented by the Counsel to the Claimant, Barrister Tosin Alawode.

Botad General Limited had through its Counsel claimed that “the Commissioner for Health (2nd Defendant), on the 5th June, 2009 introduced an outfit called Medical Equipment Medical Services as the consultant in-charge of the establishment of an Advance Medical Diagnostic Centre in Ilorin.

“The Commissioner for Health also expressed the desire of the consultant to procure diagnostic equipment and sought for our cooperation in that regard. On March 10, 2010, the Commissioner for Health however awarded a contract to the claimant to supply a State of the Art Medical Equipment in the sum of $7,452,782.21.”

The Claimant’s Counsel further stressed that the Commissioner for Finance (3rd Defendant) on February 18, 2015, did undertake that to pay the said amount in Naira equivalent in five months installments between March and July 2015. The defendants however reneged on their promise and undertaking to pay as contained in their letter of February 18, 2015 and no payment has been made whatsoever.

“Several phone calls have been put across to the 3rd Defendant for the payment of the outstanding sum but without any response whatsoever. The refusal of the defendants to pay the outstanding sum since 2014 has adversely affected the claimant’s business and equally made them to incur additional liabilities in the course of the efforts at the demanding the payment.”

Barrister Alawode however maintained that interest on the said sum of N192,060,509.15 at the rate of 22 percent per annum from 2013 until judgment and at the rate of 10 percent per annum thereafter until the final liquidation of the whole debt.