Shedrack Ogboru, the CEO of Macobarb International Limited, who filed a N5.74bn suit against NLNG for breach of contract and accumulated losses, has cried out, saying the fate of indigenous contractors in Nigerian courts is doomed.

This was as Justice Chinwendu Nwogu of the Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on Wednesday dismissed the suit marked PHC/2013/CS/2022, filed by an indigenous contractor, Macobarb.

Ogboru told newsmen outside the court after the shocking ruling that the judge ignored the crux of the matter and the terms of the contract to deny Macobarb the claims.

Showing anger and frustration, Ogboru said he felt he presented a tight case to the court to show that the NLNG breached terms of payments and that the breaches caused slowdown of the execution of the contract, but regretted that the judge did not agree with any of his arguments.

Ogboru noted that many indigenous contractors have died as a result of injustices in the hands of the oil majors, emphasising that it is only abroad that communities and local contractors get some form of justice and never in Nigeria.

Justice Nwogu had ruled that the NLNG did not breach its contract with the contractor and that the gas company did not unlawfully deny Macobarb payments.

The judge In his ruling said work executed by Macobarb did not amount to ‘work done’ as stated in the contract terms except the NLNG approved such work it amounts to only work.

The court further held that the provision mandating the person recognized as ‘contract holder’ nominated by the NLNG as the one to authorize any dealings with the contractor did not mean that he alone could act for the NLNG as relied upon by the contractor.

The judge ruled that the ‘contract holder’ was a mere day to day overseer of the project, and that any official mandated by the NLNG can terminate the contract.

The judge also ruled that the contract did not provide for ‘standdown payment’ and that the NLNG did not cause delays in the execution of the contract as claimed by the contractor.

The judge also held that the payment failures by the NLNG which the contractor claimed affected the contract did not amount to an offence or breach of the contract, but that the contractor misused the loan he obtained from banks.

In the end, the judge ruled in favour of NLNG in almost all the reliefs sought by the parties and even tongue-lashed the contractor during the ruling.

Reacting, Ogboru said: “My case is presented 100 per cent, the NLNG’s case is zero; but surprisingly, the NLNG has rather been upheld, and Macobarb denied. I pity indigenous contractors in Nigerian courts. We are doomed.”

Macobarb International Limited, an indigenous contractor, had dragged the NLNG to court claiming over N1Bn (later amended to N5.074Bn) for alleged breaches to a contract (B130142PPI, Access Control) in the NLNG plant area with three years duration.

According to the suit, the contract provided that Macobarb be paid bit by bit progressively based on the value of verified work done.

Macobarb in its claims said the contract also forbade delay of any kind in the project and provided for a penalty on whoever caused the delay. It also provided for an alert system, should anything cause a delay.

Macobarb said it activated the alert clauses when payment delays began to happen but that nothing was done to rectify the delays until the contract was terminated.

He argued that the wrong person unknown to the contract signed the contract letter and that payment denials amounted to breach of the contract. (Daily Independent)