BRETT, J.S.C.
In this case the Attorney-General of Northern Nigeria sued on behalf of the Government of Northern Nigeria. The particulars attached to the writ of summons read-
‘The plaintiffs claim against the defendant is for the sum of £9,702-13s-8d (nine thousand and seven hundred and two pounds and thirteen shillings and eight pence only) being the damage suffered by the Government of Northern Nigeria due to the negligence of the defendant.
The defendant Bank by its negligence enabled one Johnson Ogu to draw the amount aforesaid dishonestly from the Government of Northern Nigeria by operating an account with the defendant Bank in the fictitious name of P. N. Oku during the period June 1959 to January 1961’.
The claim was thus unequivocally based on negligence, which meant that the plaintiff undertook to show that the Bank had committed a breach of a duty of care owed to the Government of Northern Nigeria and that the Government had suffered loss as a result of that breach of duty.
The …