Court Dismisses NAFDAC Application On Judgement Debt

An Owerri Federal High Court last Friday, dismissed a NAFDAC application for stay of execution of the judgement debt of N898 million entered against it.

The court, presided over by Justice F. A. Olubanjo, had in June, ordered NAFDAC to pay the damages to Reagan Remedies Nigeria Limited, an Owerri-based pharmaceutical company.

NAFDAC was ordered to pay the damages for wrongfully closing the company for allegedly manufacturing fake drugs.

But NAFDAC appealed against the judgement, urging the court to grant the application, pending the determination of the appeal.

The court ordered NAFDAC to pay the amount to the Principal Assistant Registrar of the court who would deposit it in an interest-yielding account, in accordance with the Central Bank of Nigeria guidelines.

The court held that it would be unconstitutional to grant the application based on NAFDAC Act 2004, which provides that the agency should regulate the payment of judgement debts entered against it.

Justice Olubanjo noted that the applicant had no evidence before the court, stating its financial status to suggest that it could not pay the damages.

She observed that the principle of exceptional circumstances earlier canvassed by counsel to the applicant, Sebastine Hon (SAN), could not apply to the application.

Counsel to the respondent, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had earlier urged the court not to grant the order because the provision of the act was unconstitutional.

“Where an act runs against the provisions of the constitution, in spirit or letter, such an act is unconstitutional,” he said.

“Granting such order is tantamount to saying that when you have a judgment against government agency, you go cap in hand to beg it to comply.

Reacting to the ruling, the counsel to the applicant said that the ruling was a partial victory to the agency because it amounted to conditional stay of execution.

Hon said however, that the agency was not satisfied with the ruling and would appeal against it.