IGUH, JSC (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This is an appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division, delivered on the 3rd day of June, 1992 wherein the Court of Appeal affirmed the decision of R. D. Muhammad, J., as he then was, sitting at the Federal High Court of the Sokoto Judicial Division. The appellant being dissatisfied with the said decision of the Court of Appeal has further appealed, with leave, to this court.
I think it is necessary for a better appreciation of the issues that arise for decision in this appeal to give a background history of the dispute between the parties.
Following an agreement between the parties sometime in 1978, the respondent, Gesellschaft Fur Industries Gasvenvertung A.G. (G.I.V.), a foreign company with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, shipped some quantities of oxygen and acetylene producing machines to the appellant at a total contract price of U.S. $606,852.00. The goods were cleared by the appellant from the Niger…