Justice Prevails: Supreme Court Nullifies ₦22 Trillion Judgment Against Union Bank

Justice Prevails: Supreme Court Nullifies ₦22 Trillion Judgment Against Union Bank

By prince Benson Davies

The Supreme Court has set aside a Federal High Court judgment in which over N22 trillion was awarded against Union Bank and other parties since 2014.
The judgment arose from a suit instituted by a company known as Visana Nigeria Limited, which claimed that Union Bank was indebted to it in the sum of approximately $8 million at an interest rate of 2.5 percent per month compounded from January 2000 until judgment and thereafter at 10 percent per annum from the date of judgment until the sum was fully paid.

Delivering the lead judgment of the Supreme Court, with which four other justices agreed, Justice Stephen Jonah Adah regretted how non-adherence to a settled judicial precedent by the two lower courts had caused a simple matter to be in court for over 25 years.
The final determination of the case is expected to lay to rest the discomfort of the CBN and other regulators of Union Bank, its auditors, and rating agencies on the possible impact of the judgment on the going concern status of the bank.

Visana instituted the suit against the defendants, alleging that Metalloplastica Nigeria Limited, a borrower from Union Bank, was indebted to it in the sum of $7,616,188.94 as of December 1993 and that the purported Deed of Debenture made on 24th February 1989, pursuant to which Continental Merchant Bank appointed Chief R. U. Uche as Receiver/Manager of Metalloplastica, was invalid, the same having been procured “without the prior written consent of Universal Trust Bank and its successors-in-title or assigns (being Union Bank) as provided in paragraph 13(f) of the original Debenture issued by Metalloplastica in favor of Universal Trust Bank.

Judgment was delivered against Union Bank on 16 December 2014 for the sum of USD7,616,188.94 or its equivalent in Naira with prejudgment compound interest at the rate of 4.25 percent per month from 26 January 2000 till the date of judgment and thereafter at the rate of 10 percent on the judgment sum per annum from the date of the judgment till final liquidation of the debt.

The Court of Appeal later heard the application filed by the 1st respondent (Visana Nigeria Limited) to rely on fresh evidence. The appeal was heard, and judgment was delivered on the 16th of April 2021. The judgment was reduced to the sum of USD 365,605.32 or its equivalent in Naira with prejudgment interest at 4.25 percent per month simple interest from 31st December 1993 to 16th December 2014 and thereafter at the rate of 10 percent per annum from the date of the judgment at the court below until final liquidation of the judgment debt.

Still dissatisfied by the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Union Bank further appealed to the Supreme Court in 2021. Union Bank’s persistence paid off in the judgment delivered on Friday, 25 April 2025.