Nigeria Defeats Sunrise Power’s $2.35bn Mambilla Claim at ICC

Nigeria has secured victory at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal in Paris, defeating a $2.35 billion claim brought by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company over the long-stalled Mambilla hydropower project.

In a ruling issued Thursday and signed by a three-member panel, the tribunal threw out Sunrise’s argument that the federal government breached its obligations under a 2020 settlement agreement and its addendum. It also rejected the company’s demand that Nigeria pay $400 million to satisfy a combined $400 million settlement and default sum.

Beyond dismissing the claim, the panel ordered Sunrise and its promoter, Leno Adesanya, to personally bear responsibility for the dispute. The tribunal found that Adesanya is individually bound by the arbitration agreement, giving it jurisdiction over Nigeria’s counterclaim against him and his company.

Sunrise and Adesanya were also directed to refund 75 percent of Nigeria’s legal costs — $11.82 million in total. Of that, $2.5 million will be deducted from funds already held in escrow by the ICC, while the remaining $9.32 million must be paid directly, with 10 per cent annual interest compounding from the date the final award is notified. Arbitration costs, fixed at $1.66 million, will also be split 75-25 in Nigeria’s favour.

The panel was chaired by Melaine van Leeuwen, alongside co-arbitrators Stavros Brekoulakis and Simon Nesbitt. Nigeria’s legal team was led by Elizabeth Oger-Gross and Tolu Obamuroh of Paul Hastings LLP.

The dispute traces back to a 2003 deal for Sunrise to build the 3,050MW Mambilla plant in Taraba State on a build-operate-transfer basis, valued then at $6 billion. Sunrise first went to arbitration in 2017, and a second claim followed after a 2020 settlement meant to end the dispute allegedly went unhonoured. Both former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari have publicly denied authorising the original contract and the 2020 settlement respectively, each maintaining the deals were struck without their approval.