By Paul Joseph
Nigeria has secured a major legal victory after an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal in Paris dismissed claims worth about $3.38 billion brought by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited over the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced the outcome on Thursday, September 17, 2026, following the tribunal’s decision in the long-running dispute.
The claims before the tribunal involved two major financial demands.
One was a claim of approximately $680 million, including interest, connected to an earlier settlement dispute. The second involved more than $2.7 billion in compensation and interest over disagreements surrounding the development of the Mambilla project.
Together, the claims had exposed Nigeria to a potential liability of more than $3.38 billion.
In reacting to the ruling, Tinubu said the decision reaffirmed the Federal Government’s determination to protect the country’s interests in international disputes while remaining committed to legitimate investors and its contractual and legal obligations.
The President commended the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Nigeria’s external legal team for their roles in defending the country.
He also acknowledged former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, who gave evidence during the arbitration proceedings, as well as former Ministers of Power Babatunde Fashola and Suleiman Adamu and other witnesses and experts involved in Nigeria’s defence.
The Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project has been the subject of contractual and legal disputes for more than two decades.
In 2003, then Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, awarded Sunrise Power a build-operate-transfer contract for a proposed 3,050-megawatt hydropower plant.
The project was initially estimated at about $6 billion, with Sunrise expected to finance and develop the facility and recover its investment through electricity sales over an extended period.
The validity of the contract subsequently became a major point of contention.
Sunrise later commenced ICC arbitration against Nigeria in October 2017, seeking about $2.354 billion over an alleged breach of the 2003 agreement.
A settlement was subsequently negotiated under which Nigeria agreed to pay Sunrise $200 million, with a 10 per cent penalty provision in the event of default.
A further dispute over the settlement resulted in another claim by Sunrise, which eventually rose to approximately $680 million with interest.
Domestic Legal Proceedings
The Mambilla dispute has also been linked to separate proceedings in Nigeria.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) declared Agunloye wanted in December 2023 over allegations connected to the award of the Mambilla contract.
During proceedings in 2025, an EFCC investigator told the court that the contract had not received approval from former President Obasanjo and the Federal Executive Council before it was awarded. Agunloye has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
There have also been legal proceedings involving Sunrise promoter Leno Adesanya. In September 2024, the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the EFCC to remove Adesanya from its wanted list, although the Court of Appeal subsequently stayed the execution of the judgment pending the determination of the Federal Government’s appeal.
Another Major Arbitration Victory
The latest ruling adds to a number of significant international and domestic legal disputes in which Nigeria has secured favourable outcomes.
In 2023, a London court set aside arbitration awards against Nigeria in the Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) case. The awards, initially valued at $6.6 billion plus interest, had grown to more than $11 billion during the proceedings.
The court found that the awards had been obtained through fraud and that the circumstances surrounding them were contrary to public policy.
Nigeria also secured a favourable arbitral decision in November 2025 in a dispute involving civil works at the Ajaokuta Steel Complex, while another arbitration tribunal dismissed claims of about $6.2 million brought against Nigeria by European Dynamics UK Ltd over a national electronic government procurement project in February 2026.
The Mambilla ruling therefore removes a potential multibillion-dollar financial exposure for Nigeria, although the wider history of the project continues to involve separate contractual and criminal proceedings.
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