Fourteen Years to Collect a Judgment: How Customs Tried to Dodge Its Own Debt: C.B.N. v. Lidan Eng. Ltd. [2026] 12 NWLR (Pt. 2053) 35 — Supreme Court of Nigeria
Fourteen Years to Collect a Judgment: How Customs Tried to Dodge Its Own Debt C.B.N. v. Lidan Eng. Ltd. [2026] 12 NWLR (Pt. 2053) 35 — Supreme Court of Nigeria Winning a court case is one thing. Actually getting paid is sometimes an entirely different battle — and this case is a masterclass in just how long that second battle can drag on. A group of importers won a ₦320 million judgment against the Nigerian Customs Service for wrongfully auctioning their containers. Then it took them roughly fourteen years, and a trip all the way to the Supreme Court, just to get their hands on the money — with Customs and the Central Bank of Nigeria throwing up one procedural obstacle after another along the way. The Facts Lidan Engineering, Johns Express Agencies, Hopevile & Green, and Mr. Chuks Agoha imported six containers into Nigeria from the United States. The Nigerian Customs Service wrongly and unlawfully auctioned all six containers off and then ignored every attempt by the importers to s...