$196m pre-paid metre contract: Court orders FG, firm to maintain status quo

The prayer of Ziklagsis Networks Limited to stop the federal Ministry of Power from awarding three million pre-paid metre contract to another firm has been granted by a Federal High Court, Abuja.
Justice Evoh Chukwu ordered the ministry to maintain status quo, pending the determination of the motion before him.
Ziklagsis Networks Limited is seeking the order of the court to stop the ministry from further awarding the contract to other companies other than the firms it entered into a Tripartite Agreement with.
Other defendants are the Federal Government, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Debt Management Office and Skye Bank.
The contract is for the production, supply, installation and mainteneance of Prepaid Electricity Metres (PPM).
Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) Wole Olanipekun, Okpefeyi Oladepo, Ahmed Raji, and two other lawyers, A.A. Usman and Bayo Majekolade, argued the case of the applicant before the court.
They asked the court to determine whether, having regards to the letter of Award/Revalidation of Tripartite Agreement with the Federal Government for the supply of 3,315,820 electric prepaid metres, the Federal Government, Ministry of Power and the Attorney-General of the Federation, who are 1st to 3rd defendants in the matter, are not estopped from changing, altering and resiling from the award/agreement after taking steps and incurring expenses on the supply of the prepaid metres.
In the affidavit in support of the originating summons deposed to by Mr. Jones Listowel, Managing Director of the firm, the firm said it entered into $196,835,396.02 contract agreement with the government for the production, supply, installation of Prepaid Electricity Metres in 2003.
He said that his firm went ahead to supply about 40,000 PPMs at its own expense.
Listowel said the government breached the agreement by failing to pay for the PPMs already supplied under the agreement.
He accused the ministry of plans to divert the contract as well as the contract sum in favour of other persons, company or institution other than his firm.
He said the ministry’s refusal to release the money due to the plaintiff is done in bad faith and intended to frustrate his company with the ultimate aim of cancelling the contract.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the case.