LEGAL PRINCIPLE: CONTRACT LAW — Building Contracts — Validity of Contract Determination by Employer Upon Contractor’s Abandonment
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
When a contractor is guilty of inordinate delay, indolence, lack of seriousness, persistent shoddy work, and purports to terminate the contract, the court should ignore such pretences and affirm a termination made by the employer on the basis of the contractor's abandonment of work.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Pats-Acholonu, JSC, in Adecentro (Nigeria) Ltd v. Council of Obafemi Awolowo University (2005) NLC-332000(SC) at p. 22; Paras D–E.
"When a contractor has been guilty of inordinate delay occasioned by late mobilization, indolence, lack of seriousness, persistent shoddy work and in the same vein under a pretence that the employer should have paid him the sum in respect of a certificate for a miserly sum of money vis-à-vis the sum total, and purported to terminate the contract, the court should ignore the pretences and repudiate the so called determination and in its stead affirm a termination made by the employer on the basis of the contractors abandonment of work."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
An employer may validly terminate a contract when the contractor has effectively abandoned work through delay and poor performance. The contractor’s purported termination may be ignored as a pretence. The principle applies to building and construction contracts. The rule recognizes abandonment as a ground for employer termination. The court will uphold the employer’s termination in such circumstances.
